First lady's cousin sentenced to 3 years in jail for taking bribes

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- A 74-year-old cousin of South Korea's first lady was sentenced to three years in jail on Wednesday for taking billions of won in bribes in exchange for election nominations and employment opportunities at state-run businesses.

Kim Ok-hee was also ordered to pay nearly 3.2 billion won (US$2.2 million) in fines.
"Her taking large bribes using her relationship with the president seriously
violated the election law, which strictly prohibits plutocracy," the Seoul
Central District Court said in the ruling.
Kim was arrested in August on suspicions of taking over 3 billion won from the
head of the Seoul Metropolitan Bus Transportation Union, Kim Jong-won, in
exchange for the ruling Grand National Party's nomination in the April
parliamentary election.
The head of the bus union was sentenced to a one-year prison term for offering
illegal bribes.
First lady Kim Yun-ok's cousin failed to uphold her nomination promise. When the
union leader asked for his money back, she again used her relationship with the
president to draw in 200 million won from three former employees of state-run
businesses.
For her election law violation, Kim was sentenced to a two-year jail term. She
was also ordered to serve a separate one-year prison term for taking bribes from
the three job-seekers based on false promises.