The special prosecutor's office announced on the 13th that it will summon Kim Keon-hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, for questioning after her arrest on the morning of the 14th.
Director General Jeong Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Ms. Kim, who is accused of violating the Capital Markets Act, around 11:58 p.m. the previous day. Jeong noted as a reason for issuing the warrant that "there is a concern that Ms. Kim may destroy evidence."
Ms. Kim is currently detained at the Seoul Southern Detention Center. Her inmate number is reported to be 4398. Usually, suspects for whom arrest warrants are issued at the Seoul Central District Court go to the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. However, former President Yoon is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center. Therefore, the detention center requested to confine Ms. Kim to another detention facility, and the court accepted this.
It is reported that the special prosecutor's office found the confession by SEOHEE CONSTRUCTION to be decisive in Ms. Kim's arrest. The construction company reportedly wrote in its confession that "Ms. Kim received a 'Van Cleef & Arpels' necklace worth 60 million won, which she wore at the NATO summit in June 2022, as a gift three months prior and then returned it." SEOHEE CONSTRUCTION is also said to have admitted that while handing over the necklace, they made a request for personnel favor to Park Seong-geun, the son-in-law of Chairman Lee Bong-gwan and the former chief prosecutor of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, Jeongcheong Branch. Additionally, they submitted the authentic necklace along with the confession to the special prosecutor's office.
The contents of the confession contradict what Ms. Kim previously stated during the special prosecutor's investigation. Ms. Kim had stated that "the necklace worn during the overseas trip was a fake borrowed as a gift from her mother, purchased in Hong Kong in 2010." The fake was reportedly found at the house of Ms. Kim's brother-in-law, Kim Jin-woo. During the warrant examination, Director General Jeong Jae-wook reportedly asked Ms. Kim, "Did you receive the necklace?" To this, Ms. Kim reportedly replied that she "did not receive it."
The special prosecutor's office also reportedly raised the possibility that Ms. Kim intentionally brought a fake item to the search site to establish an "alibi." A legal industry official said, "This could have affected the judgment of one of the requirements for issuing an arrest warrant, namely 'the possibility of destroying evidence.'"
The special prosecutor's office plans to summon Ms. Kim to investigate her alleged involvement in stock manipulation with Deutsch Motors and SAMBU Construction, her alleged interference in the nomination of National Assembly members in 2022 and 2024, the suspicion of receiving bribes from the Unification Church through Geun-jin Beopsa, and the so-called 'butler gate.' The butler gate involves a rental car company, IMS Mobility, which was involved in establishment by Ms. Kim's aide, referred to as a butler, Kim Ye-seong, and is suspected of receiving a 18.4 billion won investment from large corporations and financial companies in 2023. Kim Ye-seong was out of the country in Vietnam in April but returned to Korea the previous day and was arrested by the special prosecutor's office.