The court sentenced An to 3 years and 6 months in prison.

An appeals court on Friday overturned a lower court's ruling to find former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung guilty of raping his secretary.

The lower court in August last year cleared An of the formal charge of coercing sex by abusing his position of authority.

An's former secretary Kim Ji-eun accused him of repeatedly raping her on business trips and molesting her multiple times between July 2017 and early last year.

That meant rape could not be proved since she continued to accompany him, but prosecutors hoped that the lesser charge would stick.

The scandal broke when Kim went public with the allegations on TV in February last year. An, once considered a potential presidential contender, apologized for the scandal but denied the charges, saying the sex was consensual.

Prosecutors earlier sought four years in prison for him.