Prosecution Seeks 4-Year Prison Sentence for Former Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun in 'Whitelist' Case

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The prosecution has requested a four-year prison sentence for former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun, who is undergoing a retrial for allegedly creating a whitelist of conservative organizations to benefit during the Park Geun-hye administration and supporting those groups.

On the 17th, the prosecution made this request at the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6 (Presiding Judge Oh Seok-jun) during the final hearing of Kim’s retrial. For former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Hyun Ki-hwan, the prosecution requested a three-year prison sentence.

For former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun, who was indicted on the same charges, the prosecution had previously requested a three-year prison sentence at an earlier hearing. Kim and Hyun’s defense attorneys requested an opportunity for sentencing arguments, so the final decision was postponed to this day.

Kim’s defense attorney appealed for leniency, citing the defendant’s advanced age and poor health.

In his final statement, Kim said, “I pay my respects to the hard work of the presiding judge and associate judges,” and added, “I sincerely hope for a lenient sentence.”

The court decided to hold the sentencing hearing for Kim and others on the 26th.

Previously, Kim and others were prosecuted for allegedly pressuring the Federation of Korean Industries from 2014 to 2016 to provide 6.9 billion won in support to 33 pro-government conservative organizations.

Kim was sentenced to one year and six months in prison in the first and second trials. Hyun was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison in the second trial, including charges of receiving special activity funds from the National Intelligence Service.

In February of this year, the Supreme Court acquitted them of the coercion charges and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.