Prosecutors question first lady over luxury bag scandal

Jul 22, 2024, 11:32 am

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The photo shows the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on July 21, 2024. Prosecutors have questioned first lady Kim Keon-hee behind closed doors at the government’s security office./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Park Sae-young

Prosecutors said Sunday that they have questioned first lady Kim Keon-hee over her alleged involvement in a luxury bag scandal and a stock manipulation case, at a third place for about 12 hours. It is the first time that the prosecutors conducted a face-to-face investigation into Kim in connection with the cases.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office announced that its Criminal Division 1 and Anti-corruption Division 2 questioned Kim face-to-face at an undisclosed government building on Saturday.

The questioning, which began at around 1:30 p.m., was held privately for about 12 hours, ending at around 1:20 a.m.

Before Kim, two former first ladies, Lee Sun-ja and Kwon Yang-sook, were summoned by prosecutors for probes in 2004 and 2009, respectively. But both of them were taken under a prosecutors’ probe after their husbands left office. Kim has become the first wife of an incumbent president to be questioned face-to-face by prosecutors.

“As a result of the consultation, we summoned Kim at the government building for security and safety reasons,” a prosecution official said. “Kim faithfully stated the truth in the investigation,” Choi Ji-woo, Kim’s legal representative, said.

Kim was accused of violating the Capital Markets Act in connection with the manipulation of Deutsche Motors stock prices in April 2020, and prosecutors have been investigating whether Kim was aware of and involved in the manipulation.

The alleged bribery of a luxury bag began when the internet news outlet Voice of Seoul accused Kim and President Yoon Suk-yeol of violating the anti-graft law and accepting bribes.

Currently, the Criminal Division 1 is in charge of the luxury bag case, and the Anri-corruption Division 2 of the stock manipulation case. Prosecutors are said to have spent most of the time to confirming facts about the alleged Deutsche Motors case in the face-to-face questioning.

The feud between the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is heating up after it was found that the top prosecutor was not briefed about the interrogation in advance. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it made the decision in consideration of the deprivation of the prosecutor general’s authority to investigate the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case at the time of the Moon Jae-in administration. They claimed that the questioning took place after Kim’s side said she would be questioned over the luxury bag scandal after being questioned over the stock manipulation case.

However, controversy is inevitable given that a serious investigation, such as summoning the first lady of the president, is conducted under coordination with the prosecutor general and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

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