Kim Keon-hee appeared before the special investigation team on the 25th for her fourth interrogation since her arrest. Cheon Seong-bae also attended his first interrogation since his arrest.
On that day, around 9:36 a.m., Kim arrived at the Ministry of Justice's escort vehicle at the KT Gwanghwamun Building West located in Jongno District, Seoul. This interrogation is the fourth since Kim's arrest on the 12th.
Kim is accused of exerting influence so that former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun would receive the nomination in the by-election that year in exchange for receiving public opinion survey results 58 times for free from political broker Myung-tae Kyun during the 2022 presidential election.
She is also accused of participating as a 'money source' in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case that occurred from 2009 to 2012 (violation of the Capital Markets Act), and for receiving requests related to church issues from the Unification Church in exchange for expensive necklaces through Cheon (violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes).
Meanwhile, Kim appeared before the special investigation team on the 21st for her third interrogation after her arrest. The interrogation on the 21st began around 2:12 p.m. and ended at 5:30 p.m. The examination of the record began at 5:58 p.m. and concluded at 6:24 p.m.
Around 9:42 a.m. on that day, the escort vehicle carrying Cheon arrived at the KT Gwanghwamun Building West. This is his first interrogation since the court issued a warrant for him on the 21st. At that time, he waived his right to participate in the warrant review and did not attend the examination.
Cheon is accused of receiving luxury brand Graf necklaces worth 60 million won and two Chanel bags worth around 10 million won each as gifts from former head of the Unification Church Yoon Young-ho from April to July 2022, labeled as gifts for Kim. The special investigation team believes that the Unification Church provided such valuables to Cheon for various requests, including aid for the Mekong River development project in Cambodia, acquisition of YTN by the Unification Church, hosting of the United Nations' Fifth Office in Korea, and invitations to the presidential inauguration.
Cheon is also suspected of receiving money under the guise of prayer fees from political figures ahead of the June 1, 2022, local elections and delivering related requests for nominations to Kim and other key political figures. The special investigation team conducted a search and seizure operation at Cheon's temple and related individuals on the 15th of last month.