Special counsel asks for ex-first lady to be held at different detention center from Yoon

Kim Keon Hee, center, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, is approached by reporters as she appears at the office of special counsel Min Joong-ki's team to be questioned about her alleged involvement in stock manipulation schemes, election meddling and other allegations in Seoul, Aug. 6. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said Monday they have asked for former first lady Kim Keon Hee to be placed at a detention center different from the one where her husband and former President Yoon Suk Yeol is held in the event an arrest warrant is issued for her.

Min's team requested a warrant for Kim last Thursday, a day after questioning her over her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme, meddling in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections, and bribe taking in exchange for business favors for the Unification Church.

The Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday to determine whether to issue the warrant on charges of violations of the Capital Market Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation.

"At the request of Seoul Detention Center, we submitted an application to the court requesting a change in the place for her detention and confinement from Seoul Detention Center to Seoul Southern Detention Center," the special counsel team said in a notice to the press.

Kim was initially scheduled to be taken to Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, after attending Tuesday's hearing to await the court's decision.

The request to switch to Seoul Southern Detention Center in southwestern Seoul is likely because her husband is currently in custody at Seoul Detention Center over his failed attempt to impose martial law in December.

Should Kim also be placed under arrest, it will be the first time in the country's history that a former presidential couple is locked up simultaneously.