A Seoul court on Monday sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to two years in prison for violating the Political Funds Act, Yonhap reported. The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of illegally receiving free opinion polling services worth 270 million won (about US$180,100) from political broker Myung Tae-kyun during his 2021-22 presidential campaign.
According to prosecutors, Yoon received 14 customised opinion polls in return for using his influence to help Myung's associate, former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, secure the People Power Party's nomination.
Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan said that providing free opinion polls undermined the fairness of elections. Myung was also sentenced to one year and six months in prison and was taken into custody immediately after the verdict.
The latest ruling adds to Yoon's growing list of convictions, including a finalised seven-year prison sentence last week for obstructing investigators, a life sentence for insurrection and a 30-year term for treason.
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The court also ordered the forfeiture of 13.96 million won. It accepted the special counsel team's argument that Yoon had promised to support former lawmaker Kim Young-sun's nomination as the conservative People Power Party candidate in the June 2022 parliamentary by-elections in exchange for the opinion polling services, Yonhap reported.
The special counsel had sought a four-year prison term for Yoon and a three-year sentence for Myung. The verdict differed from an earlier appellate court ruling that acquitted Yoon's wife of charges related to accepting free opinion polls from Myung in a separate case.
While acquitting Kim in April, the Seoul High Court ruled that the couple had not exclusively benefited from the polls because Myung had provided similar polling services to others as well. The special counsel team has appealed that decision.
The conviction is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Yoon, who has been facing multiple criminal trials following his failed attempt to impose martial law in 2024. In February, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for leading an insurrection through the brief imposition of martial law, according to Yonhap.
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