SEOUL -- A South Korean judge who handled the appeal trial of former first lady Kim Keon-hee's Deutsch Motors stock manipulation and other charges was found dead early Wednesday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Shin Jong-oh, a judge at the Seoul High Court, was found near the court building in Seoul at around 1 a.m. local time after police received a report around midnight, according to the report.

Police are investigating the exact cause of death.

A special counsel team on Monday appealed to South Korea's Supreme Court against an appellate court ruling that sentenced Kim Keon-hee, wife of South Korea's former President Yoon Suk-yeol, to four years in prison over charges including stock manipulation and graft.

On April 28, the Seoul High Court overturned the lower court's ruling, increasing Kim's prison term from 20 months to four years with a fine of 50 million won (about 33,910 U.S. dollars), though the sentence fell short of the 15-year sentence sought by the special counsel team.