South Korea’s former first girl Kim Keon Hee, spouse of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, arrives at a courtroom to attend a listening to to evaluate her arrest warrant requested by particular prosecutors, in Seoul, South Korea on Tuesday.
Jung Yeon-je/AP through AFP
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Jung Yeon-je/AP through AFP
SEOUL, South Korea — The spouse of South Korea’s jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested as investigators search to cost her over varied suspected crimes, together with bribery, inventory manipulation and meddling within the collection of a candidate.
In granting a particular prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant late Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Courtroom stated Kim Keon Hee posed a threat of destroying proof.
The investigation into Kim is one in every of three particular prosecutor probes launched below Seoul’s new liberal authorities concentrating on the presidency of Yoon, a conservative who was faraway from workplace in April and rearrested final month over his temporary imposition of martial legislation in December.
Whereas Yoon’s self-inflicted downfall prolonged a decades-long run of South Korean presidencies ending badly, he and Kim are the primary former presidential couple to be jailed concurrently over legal allegations.
Yoon’s shocking but poorly deliberate energy seize on Dec. 3 got here amid a seemingly routine standoff with the liberals, who he described as “anti-state” forces abusing their legislative majority to dam his agenda. Some political opponents have questioned whether or not Yoon’s actions had been at the very least partly motivated by rising allegations towards his spouse, which damage his approval rankings and gave political ammunition to his rivals.
Kim didn’t communicate to reporters as she arrived on the Seoul courtroom Tuesday for an hours-long listening to on the warrant request. She is being held at a detention middle in southern Seoul, separate from the ability holding Yoon. She is anticipated to face additional questioning on Thursday by investigators, who can lengthen her detention for as much as 20 days earlier than formally submitting prices.
The investigation workforce led by Particular Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, who was appointed in June by new liberal President Lee Jae Myung, initially questioned Kim for about seven hours on Wednesday final week earlier than deciding to hunt her arrest.
Kim spoke briefly to reporters as she appeared for final week’s questioning, issuing a obscure apology for inflicting public concern but in addition hinting that she would deny the allegations towards her, portraying herself as “someone insignificant.”
Investigators suspect that Kim and Yoon exerted undue affect on the conservative Folks Energy Celebration to appoint a selected candidate in a 2022 legislative by-election, allegedly on the request of election dealer Myung Tae-kyun. Myung faces accusations of conducting free opinion surveys for Yoon utilizing manipulated knowledge that presumably helped him win the celebration’s presidential primaries earlier than his election as president.
Kim is individually linked to a number of corruption allegations, together with claims that she acquired luxurious items through a fortuneteller performing as an middleman for a Unification Church official searching for enterprise favors, and doable involvement in a inventory value manipulation scheme tied to an area BMW dealership firm.
Min’s investigation workforce arrested one in every of Kim’s shut associates earlier Tuesday following his arrival from Vietnam, as they appear into suspicions that he used his connection to the previous first girl to safe hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in enterprise investments for his financially struggling firm.
The investigators additionally raided a building firm on Monday over allegations that its chairman bought a luxurious necklace reportedly value $43,000, which they imagine was the identical one Kim wore whereas accompanying Yoon on a 2022 journey to Europe. Investigators suspect that the necklace was presumably linked to the chairman’s son-in-law’s hiring because the chief of workers of then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Yoon’s No. 2, shortly earlier than the presidential journey. Kim has reportedly denied the accusations, claiming that the necklace she wore in Europe was not an genuine piece however a borrowed faux.
Whereas in workplace, Yoon dismissed calls to analyze his spouse as baseless political assaults and vetoed a number of payments from the liberal-led legislature searching for impartial probes into the allegations.
Shortly after successful the early presidential election in June, new President Lee Jae Myung authorised laws to launch sweeping particular investigations into Yoon’s martial legislation debacle, the allegations towards his spouse, and the 2023 drowning loss of life of a marine throughout a flood rescue operation, an incident the liberals declare Yoon’s authorities tried to cowl up.
Yoon’s martial legislation decree lasted solely hours, after a quorum of lawmakers managed to interrupt by means of a blockade of closely armed troopers and voted to revoke the measure. He was impeached by lawmakers on Dec. 14 and was formally faraway from workplace by the Constitutional Courtroom in April.
Yoon, who was despatched again to jail final month following a March launch and faces a high-stakes trial on rise up and different prices, has repeatedly resisted investigators’ makes an attempt to compel him to reply questions on his spouse.
