Former justice minister Cho Kuk has been sentenced to two years in prison on charges related to academic irregularities involving his children and intervening in a state inspection.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the verdict on Friday, some three years after Cho was indicted without detention on charges of obstruction of work, violating the anti-graft law and interfering with the execution of a right by abuse of power.

The court, however, chose not to detain Cho on site, citing a lack of flight risk or likelihood of destroying evidence.

Cho was found guilty on most of the charges related to academic irregularities involving his children, including forging documents to help his children get into prestigious schools.  

He had also faced the charge that he received bribes in the form of his daughter's scholarship. The court judged that it was not bribery but still amounts to a violation of the anti-graft law. 

The court also found him guilty of abusing his power as a then-senior presidential civil secretary to end an inspection into bribery allegations surrounding former Busan vice mayor Yoo Jae-soo.

Also on Friday, the court sentenced Chung Kyung-sim, Cho’s wife and a former Dongyang University professor, to one year in prison for admission irregularities involving her son. Chung is currently serving a four-year sentence after being convicted of university admission irregularities involving her daughter.