Seoul: Jailed former first lady Kim Keon Hee was set to appear before a special counsel team Thursday for questioning over various corruption allegations, marking her third appearance since her arrest last week.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, was scheduled to arrive at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office at 2 p.m. after being placed under custody last Tuesday on various charges, including violating laws related to political funds. The team is expected to question Kim about bribery allegations of receiving luxury gifts from the Unification Church through a shaman, identified as Jeon Seong-bae, in 2022.
Jeon has been accused of giving Kim a diamond necklace and Chanel bags on behalf of the church between April and August 2022. Jeon allegedly delivered requests for business favors from the church along with the luxury gifts. In her previous questioning Monday, Kim was questioned mainly on charges of interfering in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and 2024 general elections and about her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation case.
Kim exercised her right to remain silent for most of the questions. Meanwhile, Jeon waived his right to attend a court hearing on his potential arrest later in the day, with the judge set to review the warrant request without his presence. Min's team filed for the warrant against Jeon on Tuesday on charges of bribery and violation of laws related to political funds.
The team was also set to question Lee Jong-ho, a close associate of Kim, as a witness regarding the stock manipulation case involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, from 2009 to 2012.