Korean leader's son fined pounds 1m

A South Korean court yesterday sentenced President Kim Young-sam's second son to three years in jail and fined him 1.44 billion won (pounds 1m) for bribery and tax evasion.

Kim, 38, was charged with taking kickbacks worth 3.22 billion won in return for favours, and evading taxes on the 3.39 billion won he took as gifts. He had said that the funds were donations to finance a future parliamentary campaign. Chief judge Sohn Ji-yeol said the judges believed Kim Hyun-chul had failed in his duties as the son of an incumbent president.

The President's son was head of an organisation that helped make Kim Young-sam the first civilian to be elected president in South Korea in more than four decades. His arrest and trial has damaged the credibility of his father, who has been reduced to a lame duck ahead of presidential elections on 18 December.