South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee tight-lipped during questioning
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South Korea's former first lady Kim Keon Hee, wife of impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, arrives at the special prosecutor's office in Seoul on Aug 6.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL - South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee remained tight-lipped during questioning by a special counsel team led by Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, who has been tasked with looking into allegations involving Ms Kim on Aug 14.
According to the special counsel team, the former first lady exercised the right to remain silent for most of the questioning, which lasted just over four hours.
The special counsel team announced that it is scheduled to summon Kim once again on Aug 18.
The team previously conducted a face-to-face questioning on Aug 6, but the session on Aug 14 marked the first summons since she was detained under a warrant issued over evidence-tampering concerns.
Kim entered the special counsel’s office via an underground car park, minimising her public exposure.
The special counsel team announced that investigators plan to question the former first lady on topics regarding Kim’s influence-peddling in the 2022 by-elections.
The election interference scandal centres on political broker Myung Tae-kyun, who is suspected of having received about 90 million won (S$83,230) from former lawmaker Kim Young-sun on several occasions from 2022 to 2024.
This was allegedly in exchange for Mr Myung’s help in securing her nomination on the party ticket ahead of the 2022 by-elections.
Kim Keon Hee and her husband, former president Yoon Suk Yeol, are thought to have interfered in the then-ruling party’s candidate nominations.
In February, the controversy intensified as Mr Myung claimed that the former first lady attempted to offer a ministerial post or a position as the head of a state-run agency to Ms Kim Young-sun if she would agree to help the former prosecutor win the 2024 general election in Uichang-gu – a northern district in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, which is a district previously won by Ms Kim Young-sun.
The questioning on Aug 14 is seen as a continuation of the special counsel team’s past efforts to probe alleged election interference after securing evidence and testimony through multiple search and seizure operations and summonses over the past month.
Kim Keon Hee is suspected of plotting illegal trading schemes linked to the stock price manipulation of imported car dealer Deutsch Motors, as well as a bribery case connected to the shaman Jeon Seong-bae and a high-ranking official in the Unification Church.
More special counsel summonses are expected for Kim, as issues concerning luxury gifts like a Vacheron Constantin watch
While investigators suspect the luxury watch may have been given to Kim in exchange for a business favour, Mr Seo reportedly claimed to have only purchased the watch on the former first lady’s behalf and that there was no quid pro quo involved. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
