A South Korean appellate court has reversed a lower court's guilty ruling against Yoon Suk Yeol in a case concerning his acceptance of free public opinion survey services, 新华网客户端 reports. The second-instance decision, announced on Wednesday, clears the former South Korean president of the charge.
The case centered on whether Yoon improperly received polling services provided at no cost. The first trial had found him guilty, but the appellate panel reached a different conclusion and acquitted him on appeal, according to 新华网客户端.
Under South Korea's legal system, major criminal cases typically pass through three levels of review, meaning a verdict reached at the appellate stage can still be challenged before the country's top court. The reporting from 新华网客户端 did not specify the reasoning behind the appellate panel's decision, nor did it indicate whether prosecutors intend to contest the outcome.
The acquittal marks the latest development in the legal proceedings involving Yoon, whose time in office and its aftermath have been accompanied by a series of court cases. Details of the charge, the lower court's sentence, and the identities of the judges involved were not included in the available reporting.
What to watch next: whether prosecutors appeal the ruling to South Korea's Supreme Court, which would leave the final outcome of the case unresolved.
