Special counsel secures luxury gifts given to ex-first lady
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee appears at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, Aug. 12, to attend a pretrial detention hearing in Seoul. Yonhap
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said Wednesday it has secured luxury gifts offered by the Unification Church to former first lady Kim Keon Hee in 2022 in exchange for requesting policy favors on church issues.
Shaman Jeon Seong-bae, involved in Kim's bribery allegations, voluntarily presented a Graff necklace with a market value of 62.2 million won ($43,500), and a pair of Chanel shoes and three Chanel bags, which the first lady had received and then exchanged, through his lawyer to Min's team Tuesday afternoon, according to assistant special counsel Park Sang-jin.
Park said the luxury gifts, immediately seized by the team, are identical to the valuable items that former Unification Church official surnamed Yun gave to Kim through Jeon between April and July 2022 in return for asking for policy favors on pending church issues.
"We'll clarify the circumstances surrounding the delivery, return and storage of the seized items in the relevant court trials and ask for additional witnesses," Park said in a media briefing.
The special counsel team has been tracking the whereabouts of the Graff necklace and Chanel bags since the beginning of its investigation but has not secured any concrete evidence linking the items to Kim. They were not found during the team's raid on Kim's residence and office.
Jeon claimed previously that he had lost the necklace and bags as soon as he received them. But he recently reversed his previous testimony in court, reportedly asserting that the ultimate recipient of the luxury gifts was Kim.