CNN logo
Navigation


Infoseek/Big Yellow


Pathfinder/Warner Bros


Barnes and Noble






World banner
rule

S. Korea president's son sentenced for bribes

Kim Hyun-chul October 13, 1997
Web posted at: 9:37 a.m. EDT (1337 GMT)

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Ending one of the most publicized trials in the country's history, a South Korean court on Monday found President Kim Young-sam's son Kim Hyun-chul guilty of accepting bribes and evading taxes.

Kim Hyun-chul, 37, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of more than $1.5 million. The court also confiscated more than $500,000 in illegally amassed assets.

He was arrested in May on charges of taking more than $7 million in bribes from six businessmen seeking government favors. He admitted receiving the money, but said the funds were gifts with no strings attached. However, two businessmen testified during his trial that they paid him for political favors.

The prosecution had sought a seven-year term and $5.2 million in fines for Kim Hyun-chul, the president's second-oldest son. But in Monday's ruling, the court said nearly two-thirds of the money he was accused of illegally accepting should not be considered bribes.

Kim Dae-jung

The junior Kim will continue to serve time at a detention house in Seoul, pending an appeal to a higher court, Justice Ministry officials said.

It was the first criminal case in this East Asian nation involving a close relative of an incumbent president. Some South Koreans appeared to welcome the sentencing of a family member of the incumbent head of state as a sign of South Korea's maturing democracy.

"It made a good example case, showing that even a member of the presidential family is punished once he committed a crime," Koh Kye-hyun, director of policy-making at the Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice, told Reuters.

But most South Koreans, as well as financial markets, shrugged off the verdict. The previous two presidents are already sitting behind bars after their convictions last year for corruption, treason and mutiny.

Although President Kim was not implicated in the case, it was one of several corruption scandals that tainted his image in his last year of office. The president's son was regarded as a close adviser to his father, heading an organization that helped make Kim Young-sam the first civilian to be elected president in South Korea in more than four decades.

Kim is constitutionally barred from running again. But corruption scandals, involving close associates as well as his second son, had damaged his authority before December's presidential elections.

The leading opposition leader, Kim Dae-jung, has a clear lead in popularity polls. But ruling party members have recently accused him of amassing millions of dollars in his own illegal slush funds. The opposition leader denied the accusations on Monday.

Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
rule

Related story:

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.


Infoseek search  


rule
Message Boards

Sound off on our message boards



You said it...
rule
To the top

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.