Court Logo [Yonhap News]

Judge Shin Jong-oh of the Seoul High Court, who presided over the appellate trial of First Lady Kim Keon-hee on charges including Deutsch Motors stock manipulation, was found dead near the courthouse early on the 6th.

Police received a report around midnight the previous day and found Judge Shin in a flower bed near the Seoul High Court building around 1 a.m. today, after which he was taken to the hospital.

It is understood that a suicide note was also found at the scene.

Police are investigating the exact cause of death, considering the possibility of a fall.

Judge Shin was the presiding judge of Criminal Division 15-2, which on the 28th of last month sentenced Mrs. Kim on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act, and receiving bribes under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

He had led the proceedings for approximately three months after taking on the case on February 6th.

The court found some of the charges related to Deutsch Motors stock manipulation, a violation of the Capital Markets Act, to be guilty, and all charges related to receiving bribes in connection with the Unification Church under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes to be guilty, sentencing her to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won.

The court also ordered the confiscation of one Graff necklace worth 62.2 million won and an additional fine of 20.94 million won.

This sentence is more than double the first trial's sentence of one year and eight months in prison.