An appeals court overturned a not-guilty verdict against an opposition lawmaker and sentenced him to one year in prison.

Still, the Seoul High Court suspended the sentence for two years, meaning Park Jie-won, a lawmaker of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, would not have to serve prison time if he stayed out of trouble during that period.

Park was indicted in 2012 on charges of accepting 80 million won ($70,600) from bankers and a businessman from 2008 to 2011. A lower court ruled Park not guilty of charges.

But the higher court convicted the 73-year-old of receiving 30 million won from a banker in 2010 in return for peddling his influences on a prosecution investigation.

Park said he will appeal to the Supreme Court.

"I believe that the high court clearly made a misjudgment, though I do not think it was politically motivated," Park told reporters as he walked out of the courthouse.

Park will lose his parliamentary seat if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling of the appeals court. (Yonhap)