Ex-first lady used status for gifts, influenced appointments: special counsel

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, Aug. 12, after attending a court review on her arrest. Korea Times file

A special prosecutor team that investigated Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, announced its final findings Monday after a 180-day probe. The findings addressed allegations raised both before and during Yoon’s presidency and included additional details uncovered by the probe.

The special prosecutor team said in their report that Kim exploited her status as the president’s spouse to receive expensive gifts and intervene broadly in personnel and candidate nominations, undermining Korea’s public systems.

“It was clearly established that Kim played a leading role from the early stages of the former president’s entry into politics and continued to do so after his election,” assistant special counsel Oh Jeong-hee said, calling their relationship “a political collective.”

Launched in July, the team led by Min Joong-ki, former chief judge of the Seoul Central District Court, investigated 16 charges against Kim, including stock price manipulation and bribery linked to the Unification Church.

Earlier this month, prosecutors sought a 15-year prison sentence and 2 billion won ($1.39 million) fine for Kim. The other 75 people linked to her alleged offenses, including the former president, were indicted.

Min Joong-ki, head of the special counsel team investigating former first lady Kim Keon Hee's corruption allegations, speaks during a briefing on the investigation’s findings in Jongno District, central Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Kim has long faced various allegations ranging from stock price manipulation to receiving a luxury handbag from a pastor, but no decisive investigation was carried out during Yoon’s presidency.

Deutsch Motors stock manipulation

One of the oldest and most widely known allegations involving Kim is the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case. Between 2009 and 2012, a group of individuals used 157 stock accounts under 91 different names to manipulate the share price of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in Korea. The Supreme Court upheld their convictions in April, and Kim has faced allegations of involvement in the scheme for several years.

Last July, prosecutors questioned Kim at a location other than a prosecutors’ office, fueling controversy over preferential treatment. Last October, Kim was cleared of all related charges.

The special counsel later secured additional evidence, including audio recordings of Kim discussing profit-sharing, which were cited in the sentencing request.

Election interference tied to political broker Myung Tae-kyun

Kim is also accused of conspiring with Yoon from 2021 to 2022 to obtain 58 opinion polls, worth 270 million won, for free from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, to intervene in candidate nominations for the 2022 local elections. This allegation surfaced a few months before Yoon declared martial law in December last year.

According to the investigation, Myung manipulated raw polling data in some surveys to favor Yoon. In return, he allegedly sought favors — including the nomination of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun — in a parliamentary by-election of the then-ruling People Power Party (PPP), with the former first couple believed to have exercised influence on his behalf.

Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja arrives at Seoul Central District Court for a hearing on her arrest warrant in Seocho District, Seoul, Sept. 22. Yonhap

Kim's ties to Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja

Prosecutors allege that in 2022, the Unification Church sought policy favors by offering support to then-presidential candidate Yoon. After his victory, the church allegedly delivered luxury goods to Kim through a shaman in exchange for her assistance on multiple requests, including securing government backing for the church’s preferred official development assistance projects.

The religious group is also accused of interfering in the PPP’s 2023 leadership race by mobilizing church members en masse to help elect Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, a close aide to Yoon, as party leader.

In the report, prosecutors described the case as “a textbook example of church-state collusion that undermined the constitutional separation of religion and state and the fairness of democratic elections.”

Lee Bong-kwan, center, chairman of Seohee Construction, arrives at the special counsel’s office in Jongno District, central Seoul, Sept. 2. Korea Times file

Luxury gifts: necklace, handbags, painting and gold turtle

The investigation also alleged that Kim accepted bribes from several figures, including a construction executive.

In 2022, Kim allegedly received a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace worth more than 60 million won from Seohee Construction Chairman Lee Bong-kwan in exchange for help securing a job for his son-in-law, and accepted a gold turtle from Lee Bae-yong, former chair of the National Education Commission.

The following year, prosecutors say, former senior prosecutor Kim Sang-min allegedly gave the former first lady a painting worth 140 million won by artist Lee Ufan, in exchange for her support in his bid to secure the PPP’s nomination in the 2024 general elections.

Limits of special counsel probe

While most aspects of the probe produced results, the special counsel could not establish a link between Kim and allegations that she manipulated the route of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway project in Gyeonggi Province for personal gain.

It also failed to determine Kim’s involvement in claims that Sambu Construction inflated its stock price through Ukraine reconstruction-related promotions in 2023, a scheme that allegedly generated 36.9 billion won in illicit profits.

Cases requiring further investigation will be referred to the National Office of Investigation.