President Yoon's Mother-in-Law Sentenced to 1 Year Imprisonment in 2nd Trial for 'Balance Certificate' Case

No Jail Time Despite 1-Year Sentence in First Trial
Second Trial: "Defense Rights Have Been Fully Guaranteed So Far"

Choi Eun-soon (76), mother-in-law of President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial for charges including forgery of bank balance certificates but avoided detention in court, was sentenced to imprisonment and detained in court on the 21st during the appeal trial.

Choi Eun-soon, mother-in-law of President Yoon Suk-yeol / Photo by Jin-hyung Kang aymsdream@

On that afternoon, the 3rd Criminal Division of the Uijeongbu District Court (Chief Judge Lee Seong-gyun) sentenced Choi to one year in prison in the appeal trial for charges including forgery of private documents, use of forged private documents, and violation of the Real Name Real Estate Act, and detained her in court.

The court dismissed the appeal, stating, "There is no reason to accept the defendant's appeal considering all circumstances," and explained the reason for detention in court, saying, "The right to defense was sufficiently guaranteed up to the appeal trial, and the nature of the crime is very serious."

Earlier, Choi was indicted on charges of forging bank balance certificates to make it appear that approximately 34.9 billion KRW was deposited in a savings bank in four installments from April 1 to October 11, 2013, during the process of purchasing land in Dochon-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

She is also accused of colluding with business partner Ahn Mo to file a lawsuit on August 7, 2013, demanding the return of the deposit related to the Dochon-dong land and submitting forged bank balance certificates worth about 10 billion KRW to the court.

The first trial sentenced Choi to one year in prison. The first trial court stated, "The amount on the forged bank balance certificates is huge, the crimes were committed repeatedly over several occasions, and the forged bank balance certificates were submitted as evidence, undermining the fairness of the trial. Also, it appears that substantial profits were obtained by purchasing real estate under a borrowed name."

However, the first trial court did not detain Choi in court. This was considering that she was released on bail during the appeal process of a separate trial concerning charges of fraudulent receipt of nursing care benefits. Subsequently, Choi was acquitted of the fraudulent nursing care benefits charges by the Supreme Court.

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