Special counsel team to announce final results of corruption probe into ex-first lady

Special counsel Min Joong-ki speaks during a ceremony marking his team's launch outside his office in central Seoul, July 2. Yonhap

Special counsel Min Joong-ki and his team were set to announce the final results of their 180-day investigation into corruption allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Monday after their mandated term came to an end.

Since its launch in July, Min's team has focused on three key suspicions — Kim's alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme, her alleged acceptance of free opinion polls from a self-proclaimed power broker and her suspected receipt of luxury gifts from the Unification Church.

Over the course of the investigation, the team placed 20 people, including Kim, under custody and indicted a total of 66 people, including Kim and her husband, ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Specifically, Kim is accused of conspiring with a former head of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in Korea, as well as a close associate, to manipulate the company's stock price and make 810 million won ($561,000) in illegal profits between 2010 and 2012.

She is also accused of receiving free opinion polls worth 270 million won, together with her husband, from the power broker ahead of the 2022 presidential election and receiving luxury gifts worth 80 million won from the Unification Church in exchange for business favors in 2022.

Kim has been further indicted over her alleged involvement in a scheme to mass recruit Unification Church followers for the People Power Party ahead of the party's 2023 leadership race and over her alleged acceptance of luxury gifts from businesspeople and others in exchange for favors.