Kim Keon-hee: shaman’s bribery verdict strikes a legal blow to South Korea’s ex-first lady

He called himself a spiritual guide. Prosecutors called him a fixer. This week, a court in Seoul called him something else: guilty of accepting bribes – a verdict that may yet determine the fate of South Korea’s disgraced former first lady Kim Keon-hee.The man at the centre of it all is Jeon Seong-bae, a high-profile shaman better known as “Monk” Gunjin who was convicted on Tuesday of acting as a go-between for Kim and senior figures of the Unification Church – channelling luxury gifts, cash and requests for political favours through the back corridors of presidential power.Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 33 sentenced him to six years in prison, one year more than prosecutors had sought.The ruling throws Kim’s own appeal, already among the most politically charged legal proceedings in the country’s recent history, into sharp relief.Kim Keon-hee (second from right, wearing a mask) in court last month during a verdict in her trial on corruption charges at the Seoul Central District Court. Photo: Yonhap/AFPGunjin was found guilty of a wide range of influence-peddling during the tenure of Kim’s husband, the now-jailed former president Yoon Suk-yeol.