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Former first lady Kim Keon-hee leaves the special counsel’s office at KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno District, Seoul, on August 6 after being questioned as a suspect. / Source: Yonhap News

All eyes are on Judge Chung Jae-wook, the Seoul Central District Court’s chief judge in charge of arrest warrants, who will determine whether to issue a detention warrant for former first lady Kim Keon-hee. Chung has presided over several high-profile cases handled by the special counsel team.

The court announced on August 7 that Chung will hold Kim’s warrant review hearing at 10:10 a.m. on August 12.

Born in Busan, Chung graduated from the Korean National Police University and passed the bar exam while serving as a police officer. He worked as an attorney for the Korea Legal Aid Corporation before being appointed as a judge, serving at the Busan, Suwon, and Seoul Central District Courts. He later served as a presiding judge in Ulsan and Suwon before assuming his current post in Seoul.

Chung has previously issued warrants for former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min—on grounds of possible evidence destruction—in a case involving orders to cut power and water supplies to a media outlet, and for Yoon Young-ho, former global director of the Unification Church, citing flight risk and evidence destruction concerns over alleged influence-peddling.

However, he has also rejected warrants, including those for former and current IBK Industrial Bank of Korea employees accused of unlawful loans worth some 80 billion won, citing no clear flight risk and the need to protect defense rights, and for the CEO of Seoyoung Holdings, suspected of illicit multi-billion-won loans from NH NongHyup Bank, noting that further substantiation was required.

On August 7, just one day after Kim’s questioning by Special Counsel Min Joong-ki’s team, prosecutors sought her arrest on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and the Political Funds Act, as well as bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. If granted, it would mark the first time in history that both a former president and first lady are detained simultaneously.