Prosecutors grill first lady for 12 hours over stock manipulation, handbag allegations

Politics

Published: 21 Jul. 2024, 17:22 Updated: 21 Jul. 2024, 17:36

Prosecutors grill first lady for 12 hours over stock manipulation, handbag allegations

First lady Kim Keon Hee arrives at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on June 10. [NEWS1]

Prosecutors on Sunday said they questioned first lady Kim Keon Hee for 12 hours over her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation case and her acceptance of a luxury handbag from a pastor. This marked the prosecution's first in-person questioning of Kim regarding these allegations.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the first lady was questioned overnight on Saturday at an undisclosed government building from 1:30 p.m. to 1:20 a.m. She was summoned to the government building instead of the prosecutors’ office for "security reasons," the prosecution said.

This is also the first time prosecutors summoned an incumbent first lady for an investigation.

According to the prosecution, Kim was initially called in for her alleged involvement in manipulating the stock price of Deutsche Motors, a BMW car dealer in Korea. The prosecution had received written responses to a list of questions sent before the summons and based their inquiry on those answers.

The Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case dates back to 2009 and 2012. Prosecutors believe Kim and her mother made 2.3 billion won ($1.9 million) in ill-gotten gains from alleged stock manipulation.

The prosecution first opened an investigation into Kim's alleged involvement in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case in April 2020.

While the court acknowledged that the first lady’s accounts were frequently used by people involved in manipulating stocks, she was never indicted due to a lack of proof that she was aware of the scheme.

The former head of the Korean BMW car dealer, Kwon Oh-soo, received a two-year suspended sentence for stock manipulation in February last year. An appellate court is set to sentence Kwon again in September.

During Saturday’s questioning, Kim was reportedly asked whether she was aware of her bank account being used in stock manipulation. Kim’s attorney said the first lady responded "truthfully" during the questioning.

Prosecutors also requested additional questioning regarding her acceptance of a Christian Dior handbag and other expensive gifts from Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young, as the investigation into the stock manipulation case concluded around 9 p.m. on Saturday. Kim reportedly agreed to the extended questioning after discussing it with the presidential office.

The luxury handbag scandal centers on allegations that Kim received a $2,200 Christian Dior bag from Choi in September 2022, allegedly to curry favor with her.

Earlier this month, Kim’s aide told prosecutors that the first lady ordered the return of the luxury handbag on the same day she received it but claimed she forgot to return it as she was occupied with other duties. The bag is believed to have been kept at the presidential office since then.

A senior presidential official told reporters that Kim's attorney will release a statement regarding the matter instead, as it would be "inappropriate" for them "to directly mention cases under investigation by the prosecution."

As news broke that the first lady was summoned for questioning a day earlier, the liberal Democratic Party (DP) criticized the prosecution's private questioning of Kim.

“The way Kim was summoned, the date and the place were all chosen by the first lady,” DP floor spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung said during a press briefing on Sunday. “Now nobody believes the prosecutors will launch a fair investigation against a VVIP.”

DP Rep. Lee Sung-yoon, a former chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office between 2020 and 2021, wrote on his Facebook account that the prosecutors “should have summoned Kim to the prosecutor's office without yielding to pressure.”

The conservative People Power Party (PPP), aligned with President Yoon Suk Yeol, said the investigation was carried out strictly "based on the law and principles."

Regarding the DP’s criticism of the prosecutors’ undisclosed summoning of the first lady as a pretentious "show," PPP floor spokesperson Cho Ji-yeon told reporters that it was "regretful" and "inappropriate" for the DP to use cases under investigation for political purposes.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, CHUNG JIN-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]