'Whitelist' Former Chief Kim Ki-chun, Final Appeal Verdict

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun, who is accused of leading the so-called 'white list' during the illegal support of conservative groups under the Park Geun-hye administration, will face a second Supreme Court ruling.

According to the legal community on the 15th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Park Sang-ok) will deliver its verdict at 10 a.m. on the retrial of Kim, who was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and coercion.

Kim was prosecuted for allegedly ordering the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) to provide a total of approximately 2.389 billion won to 21 conservative groups, including the Parents' Association, from February 2014 to April 2015.

In the first trial, he was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, with the court ruling that he received reports on specific supported organizations and amounts, approved them, and instructed their execution; however, he was acquitted of the abuse of authority charge. Conversely, the second trial recognized the abuse of authority charge as guilty but maintained the same sentence.

The Supreme Court's stance also changed. In February, the court ruled that while Kim's abuse of authority charge was valid, the coercion charge was not, and ordered a retrial. The retrial court subsequently reduced the sentence to 1 year in prison.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will also hear the appeal of former Hi-Mart Chairman Seon Jong-gu, who is accused of committing illegal acts during a leveraged buyout (LBO) process involving external borrowed funds for corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Seon is charged with causing financial damage to Hi-Mart by, among other things, having a Hong Kong-based private equity fund (PEF) Affinity set a mortgage on Hi-Mart-owned real estate when receiving acquisition funds during the sale of Hi-Mart.

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