A South Korean court sentenced former first lady Kim Keon-hee, already serving time behind bars for corruption, to another seven years’ imprisonment on Friday in a jobs-for-gifts scandal.
Kim, 53, was found guilty of accepting “high-value precious metals” in exchange for favours in personnel appointments, according to the live-streamed ruling.
The court said she “unhesitatingly accepted valuables of a kind that the average citizen would struggle to acquire even once in a lifetime”.
Kim is serving a four-year sentence for stock manipulation and bribery.
She was indicted in December on additional charges including accepting jewellery worth a total of 103 million won (US$67,000).
They included a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, a Tiffany brooch and Graff earrings, from a construction magnate in 2022.