Kim Keon-hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, appeared in court on the 12th to undergo pre-arrest interrogation.
The Director General Jeong Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court will conduct the warrant review for Kim Keon-hee, who is facing charges including violations of the Capital Markets Act, starting at 10:10 a.m. on that day.
On that day, Kim Keon-hee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, around 9:27 a.m., approximately 40 minutes before the warrant review. She was wearing a black skirt suit and shoes without heels.
Kim Keon-hee did not answer any questions from reporters, such as the meaning of "a person who is nothing," whether she accurately stated the facts regarding luxury gifts, if she had ever seen the Kim Keon-hee Excel file, and why she requested someone to buy a luxury watch.
Before entering the courthouse, Kim Keon-hee bowed her head to greet reporters and then proceeded to the courtroom.
Previously, on the 7th, the Special Prosecutor's Office applied for an arrest warrant for Kim Keon-hee on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act (involving allegations of colluding with Deutsche Motors to manipulate stock prices), violating political funding laws (for suspected election interference in 2022 and 2024), and allegations of bribery related to specific crimes (suspicions of soliciting bribes via Geonjinbeopsa). They investigated Kim Keon-hee for 7 hours and 23 minutes the day before and immediately requested the warrant the following day.
The Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case involves former Chairman Kwon Oh-soo, who was the largest shareholder and CEO of the publicly listed company Deutsche Motors, colluding with 13 individuals, including stock manipulation players and current and former employees of securities companies, to illegally trade 15.99 million shares of Deutsche Motors (worth approximately 636 million won) using 157 accounts from 2009 to 2012. During the investigation and related trials, it was revealed that six securities accounts under Kim Keon-hee's name were involved in the stock manipulation. The Special Prosecutor's Office believes that Kim Keon-hee was aware of the stock manipulation beforehand.
Kim Keon-hee is also under suspicion of assisting former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun in getting nominated in the Changwon district during the 2022 by-election. The Special Prosecutor's Office suspects that former President Yoon and his wife received approximately 318 million won worth of public opinion surveys related to the presidential election for free from Kim Young-sun and Myung-tae Kyun during the 2022 presidential election process.
Additionally, Kim Keon-hee is suspected of asking the former lawmaker to concede his district to former prosecutor Kim Sang-min during last year's general election and to support Kim Sang-min. Furthermore, it is alleged that in April to July 2022, she received two Chanel bags worth around 10 million won and a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace and a Graff necklace worth around 60 million won from a Unification Church executive through Geonjinbeopsa, in return for helping resolve issues related to the Unification Church.
On this day, eight people, including Director General Han Mun-hyeok, are expected to attend the interrogation. The Special Prosecutor's Office is expected to argue the necessity of arrest based on the seriousness of the crime and the risks of evidence destruction and flight. In this regard, the Special Prosecutor's Office stated that it submitted a warrant opinion document totaling 848 pages to the court by the day before.