Seoul: A special counsel team on Friday sought a four-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol during his appellate trial on charges of receiving free opinion polls in the lead-up to the 2022 presidential election.

According to Yonhap News Agency, special counsel Min Joong-ki requested the sentence and a forfeiture of 137.2 million won (US$102,000) at the Seoul High Court. This follows a lower court's decision, which sentenced Yoon to two years in prison on charges of violating the Political Funds Act.

Yoon is accused of collaborating with his wife to receive opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won for free from a self-proclaimed power broker, Myung Tae-kyun, on 58 occasions between June 2021 and March 2022. The lower court found Yoon guilty on 14 occasions, ruling that these amounted to illegal political donations, while determining that the other 44 instances could not be seen as being given with the couple's consent.

In addition, Min's team has requested a three-year prison sentence for Myung in the appellate trial, following a lower court's sentence of 18 months in prison for similar charges. Meanwhile, Yoon's wife was acquitted of the same charges in her separate first and second-instance trials, and she is currently awaiting a final ruling from the Supreme Court.