A South Korean court handed down a two-year prison sentence Monday to former President Yoon Suk Yeol, finding him guilty of illegally accepting opinion polling services valued at 270 million won — roughly $179,800 — from a political broker without paying for them, according to local media reports.
The Seoul Central District Court determined that Yoon broke political funding laws when he received 14 separate rounds of polling at no cost. The court also found that he later used his political influence to secure a nomination for a former lawmaker as a way of repaying the broker.
Yoon had pushed back against the accusations, maintaining that he never asked for the polls and made no promises in exchange for them.
The ruling stood in contrast to earlier court decisions involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee, which had concluded there was no evidence of a quid pro quo arrangement tied to the same polling services.
Yoon’s legal team has the option to appeal Monday’s decision.
The 65-year-old former president is currently entangled in eight separate legal cases. Among the most serious, he is appealing a life sentence handed down in February after a court convicted him of leading an insurrection connected to his brief declaration of martial law in 2024.
Adding to his legal woes, the South Korean Supreme Court last week issued a final ruling upholding a seven-year prison sentence against him for interfering with authorities who attempted to arrest him.
