Special Counsel Min Joong-ki, who is investigating allegations related to former President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, said on Oct. 20 that there was "no illegality" regarding claims that he bought and sold shares of a company under investigation using nonpublic information. Min also dismissed calls for his resignation, which were led by opposition parties.
Min said that day, "I apologize for the controversy over my personal stock transaction," but added, "I want to make it clear that there was no illegality, such as the use of nonpublic information, in the process of acquiring and selling the shares."
He went on to say, "I believe the ongoing special counsel investigation should not be affected by my personal matter from 15 years ago, and I will quietly fulfill my duties as special counsel."
Earlier, Min was found to have invested in unlisted shares of the solar materials company Neosemitech and to have sold them just before delisting, earning profits in the hundreds of millions of won.
The company is a solar materials firm founded in 2001 by former CEO Oh Myung-hwan. It listed on the stock market in 2009 by merging with Monosolar, a solar panel corporation listed on the KOSDAQ market at the time. However, in March 2010, it received a disclaimer of opinion from an accounting firm and was delisted. A prosecution investigation later found that Oh had inflated the company's performance, causing losses to some 7,000 minority investors.
Over this case, the former CEO Oh was indicted on charges of issuing fake tax invoices and window-dressing accounts, and in June 2016 his 11-year prison sentence was finalized. Min is known to have attended Daejeon High School and Seoul National University with Oh as classmates.
The special counsel investigating the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case also reviewed and investigated records showing that Kim bought and sold the company's shares in 2009.
In response, on Oct. 17, Min explained, "In the early 2000s, on the introduction of an acquaintance who was not a company official, I invested about 30 million to 40 million won in the company, and around 2010, on a securities firm employee's recommendation to sell, I sold the company's shares for a little over 130 million won."
Min also said regarding Yangpyeong County Office official A, who was found dead on Oct. 10 after being questioned by the special counsel, "I pray for A's soul and offer my deepest condolences to the bereaved family." A had been questioned as a suspect by the special counsel on Oct. 2 in connection with suspicions of preferential treatment for the Kim family's Yangpyeong Gongheung District.
The Gongheung District preferential treatment allegation is that ESI&D, Kim's family company, failed to complete a development project on time between 2011 and 2016 but, with help from Yangpyeong County, was neither assessed nor paid development charges. At the time in 2016, A was the Head of Team in charge of imposing development charges related to the Gongheung District project.