A former member of the Seoul municipal council, who is serving a life sentence for abetting a murder, received an additional three-year jail term Wednesday for bribery.

The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced the former Seoul city councilor Kim Hyung-sik to three years in jail, convicting him of receiving kickbacks from a deceased wealthy businessman, identified only by his surname Song, from 2010 to 2014.

The court ordered Kim to pay 50 million won ($40,700) in fines and forfeit another 583 million won.

The 46-year-old received the kickbacks in exchange for business favors but failed to carry them out.

Kim hired a friend to kill the real estate mogul Song in March 2014, when Song threatened to upset Kim's election campaign by revealing the unpaid debt. The councilor had been pressured to repay the money since late 2012.

"Though Kim claims it was a personal debt, not bribes, considering Song's accounting books and other testimonies, it seems quite clear that it was illegal political funding," the court said.

In August 2015, the Supreme Court confirmed Kim's life sentence. The 45-year-old murderer, surnamed Paeng, was given 20 years in prison. (Yonhap)