Former President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, will face a pre-arrest interrogation (warrant substantive review) on the 12th. A decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant is expected to be made as early as the night of the 12th, or as late as the early morning of the 13th. If the court issues an arrest warrant for Kim, it would mark the first time in constitutional history that a former presidential couple has been arrested simultaneously.
On the 12th at 10:10 a.m., Director General Jeong Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to conduct the warrant substantive review for Kim on charges of violating the Capital Market Act and financial investment laws.
Earlier, the special prosecutor's office requested an arrest warrant for Kim at 1:21 p.m. on the same day, on charges including violations of the Capital Market Act. They had interrogated Kim for 7 hours and 23 minutes the day before and immediately filed for the warrant.
The special prosecutor's office reportedly specified in the warrant request for Kim charges of violating the Capital Market Act, violating the Political Fund Act, and soliciting bribes under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. Among the allegations under investigation are ▲ suspicions related to stock price manipulation of Deutsch Motors ▲ suspicions of election interference in the 2022 and 2024 elections ▲ and allegations of bribery through a unification church insider.
The stock price manipulation case involving Deutsch Motors saw the former chairman, Kwon Oh-soo, who was both the largest shareholder and CEO of the listed company, conspire with 13 individuals, including former and current employees of securities firms, from 2009 to 2012 to illegally trade 15.99 million shares (worth 63.6 billion won) of Deutsch Motors using 157 accounts. During the investigation and related trial, it was revealed that six securities accounts under Kim's name were used in the stock price manipulation. The special prosecutor's office believes that Kim was aware of the stock price manipulation in advance.
Kim is also suspected of having helped former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun secure nomination in the Changwon Sangnam constituency during the 2022 by-election. The special prosecutor's office suspects that the former president and his wife received public opinion surveys related to the presidential election worth 318 million won for free from Myung Tae-kyun and former lawmaker Kim Young-sun during the 2022 presidential election process.
Additionally, Kim is suspected of having asked former lawmaker Kim to concede her constituency to former prosecutor Kim Sang-min in last year's general election and to support Kim. There are also allegations that she received two Chanel bags worth approximately 10 million won and a Van Cleef & Arpels and Graff necklace worth around 60 million won through a Unification Church insider, Jeon Seong-bae, between April and July 2022, in exchange for helping address Unification Church's current issues.