The judge who presided over the corruption case against the wife of former South Korean President Kim Jong-hee has been found dead in Seoul, reports say. Yonhap and Chosun Daily newspaper.
Judge Shin Chung-oh’s body was discovered in a flowerbed near the Seoul High Court around 1 a.m. He had a handwritten suicide note in his pocket. It reportedly contained an apology but did not mention the case of former First Lady Kim Geun-hye.
According to Yonhap, police do not suspect a violent death, but are considering a fall from a height as one of the stories.
Shin Jung Oh presided over the appeal hearing in Kim Geun Hye’s case, in which she was accused of manipulating stock prices and receiving expensive gifts. In January 2026, the court sentenced her to one year and eight months in prison; In April, the Court of Appeal increased the sentence to four years.
The Chosun Daily newspaper quoted a Supreme Court official as saying he understood that Judge Shin was “under pressure” due to the court hearings being broadcast before the ruling on Kim Geun-hee’s appeal.
Kim Geun-hee was arrested in August 2025. She was specifically accused of accepting a Dior bag worth $2,200 as a gift. The presidential administration confirmed that Kim Geun-hye received the bag as a gift, but added that the bag “is being used and stored as government property.” In addition, Kim Joon-hee was accused of conspiring with the former president of Deutsche Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, to manipulate the company’s stock price and obtain illicit profits.
Her husband, former South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul, was also arrested after he declared martial law in the country on December 3, 2024, saying it was necessary to protect the country “from the threat of North Korean communist forces.” In February 2026, Yoon Seok-yeol was sentenced to life imprisonment on a number of charges, including sedition.