The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a one-year prison term for a doctor accused of negligent homicide and other charges in the death of popular rock singer Shin Hae-chul.

Shin died in October 2014 after the doctor, identified only by surname Kang, performed laparoscopic surgery on him to downsize his stomach. An investigation found that Shin died of complications related to pericardial perforation suffered during the surgery.

Kang was indicted on charges of negligent homicide in connection with the medical malpractice. The doctor was also charged with violating the Medical Service Act for making Shin's medical records public by posting them on the Internet. 

In the first trial, a district court sentenced Kang to a suspended prison term after finding him guilty of the negligent homicide charge, but it cleared him of the charge of violating the Medical Service Act. But an appeals court convicted him of both charges and sentenced him to one year in prison.

The Supreme Court upheld the verdict on Friday.

Shin, who debuted in 1988, released more than 30 studio albums and experimented with various genres ranging from modern rock to jazz and ballads to techno.(Yonhap)