Yoon Acquitted on Appeal for "Receiving Free Opinion Polls from Myung Tae-kyun"

"No Evidence of Prior Agreement or Request"

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was sentenced to prison in the first trial for receiving opinion poll services free of charge from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, was acquitted on appeal.

Yonhap News Agency

On the afternoon of October 7, the 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (presiding judge: Koo Hoe-geun) found former President Yoon not guilty in his appeal trial on charges of violating the Political Funds Act. Myung, who was tried together, was also acquitted. The court stated, "The opinion polls in question were presented only as part of the basis or means for political advice along with other polls," adding, "Even if there was a political benefit, it was not a property gain, and thus it is difficult to regard it as a political funds donation under the law."

Regarding intent, the court further explained, "There is no evidence that there was any agreement or request between Myung and the Yoon couple to conduct or provide the opinion polls free of charge." The court continued, "All the polls were conducted as a decision of the Future Korea Institute related to Myung, and only some results were delivered to the Yoon couple." In addition, "As the poll results were provided to other politicians as well, and as various poll findings were distributed and discussed to analyze opinion trends, it is difficult to recognize the defendant's intent for political donations in this case," the court added.

Former President Yoon, along with his wife Kim Keon-hee, was indicted on charges of receiving a total of 58 free opinion polls worth 270 million won from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022. Myung was put on trial on charges of providing illegal opinion poll services.

The first trial previously found Yoon guilty for receiving 14 of the opinion polls free of charge among the charges and sentenced him to two years in prison and a fine of approximately 13.96 million won. Myung, indicted for providing free poll services to the Yoon couple, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. However, for the remaining 44 polls, the court ruled it could not conclude they were provided in agreement with the Yoon couple, since they were not directly delivered by Myung.

Meanwhile, both the first and second instance courts for Kim Keon-hee, who was indicted on the same charges, also found her not guilty, stating that Myung provided the opinion polls unilaterally for the business operations of the Future Korea Institute or to increase his political influence, without any prior agreement or request.

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