Former first lady Kim Keon-hee told a Seoul court Tuesday she was distressed that matters predating her 2012 marriage to former President Yoon Suk Yeol were raised during a special counsel probe, as she faced a detention warrant hearing on multiple corruption charges.
According to legal sources, Kim said in her closing statement, “I am upset that issues from before my marriage keep being mentioned. I ask the judge to make a fair judgment.”
The special counsel’s office has charged her with alleged involvement in the manipulation of Deutsche Motors stock, interference in the People Power Party’s candidate nomination process, and accepting valuables in exchange for influence — all of which she denies.
Prosecutors allege she acted as a key financier in the stock scheme between 2009 and 2012, making illicit profits of about 811 million won through more than three-thousand-800 coordinated trades.
Kim argues she was focused on her graduate studies at the time and unaware of any manipulation.
She has also denied instructing political polling, receiving luxury goods and engaging in any illicit dealings linked to the other allegations.
Her defense team has asked the court to reject the warrant, calling the accusations unfounded and unsupported by evidence.