The Supreme Court's full bench will hold a second hearing on Oct. 22 in the case against former first lady Kim Keon-hee involving three sets of allegations. Kim's detention period expires Oct. 31, and the special counsel team plans to seek an additional detention warrant if no ruling is issued by then.
The full bench, with Justice Park Young-jae as the presiding justice, will hold a continued hearing on Oct. 22 in the appeal involving charges including violations of the Political Funds Act, according to legal sources on the 15th. It follows the first full-bench hearing held on Sept. 29.
Former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife were each tried on charges of receiving 58 opinion polls worth a combined 270 million won ($189,000) free of charge from Myung Tae-kyun between June 2021 and March 2022. Kim was acquitted of those charges in both the first and second trials.
The Supreme Court had initially planned to rule on July 16 this year but postponed the decision after Yoon, indicted on the same charges, was convicted in his first trial, unlike Kim. The court referred Kim's case to the full bench after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was also convicted in a first trial that same month on charges of receiving opinion polls from Myung and having a donor cover the costs.
No sentencing date has been set for Kim's appeal, with her detention period set to expire Oct. 31. One possibility is that the court reaches a conclusion at the Oct. 22 full-bench hearing and schedules a ruling before the detention period ends. But some analysts say a ruling by the end of this month is unlikely because full-bench decisions are typically handed down about once a month. Rulings by the court's smaller panels are scheduled for Oct. 20, 27 and 30.
The special counsel team plans to request an additional detention warrant if the appeals court does not rule before the detention period expires. If no additional warrant is issued, Kim will go through release procedures when her detention period ends at the end of this month.