Former first lady's home and office searched as investigations accelerate ahead of August summons
Investigators carried out raids on multiple locations Friday as part of a special investigation into South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee, including the residences and offices of Kim, her family members, and a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party.
Led by special counsel Min Joong-ki, the investigators were looking for documents and digital records that would shed light on Kim’s suspected ties to shaman Jeon Seong-bae, more widely known as Geon Jin, and self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun. It comes ahead of a planned summons of Kim herself on Aug. 6.
One of the key suspicions at the center of the probe involves allegations that a high-ranking official in the Unification Church, identified by the surname Yoon, gave luxury items — a diamond necklace estimated to be worth 60 million won ($43,535) and several Chanel handbags — to Jeon, as a gift for the former first lady following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s win in the 2022 presidential election.
The church official is suspected of attempting to lobby Kim through Jeon in order to gain support for projects in the church’s interests and Jeon is alleged to have made attempts to deliver the gifts to Kim. The former first lady’s attorneys have denied of receiving such items.
In an earlier investigation led by the public prosecutors, Jeon reportedly claimed that he had lost the items. Friday’s raid by the special counsel team is also seen as a continuation of past efforts to find evidence that leads to this alleged bribery case.
Another major focus of the investigation is the former first lady’s suspected interference in the then-ruling People Power Party’s candidate selection process through Myung.
Myung is suspected of receiving about 90 million won from former PPP Rep. Kim Yong-sun on multiple occasions from 2022 to 2024. These payments were allegedly made in exchange for Myung’s help in securing her nomination on the party ticket for the 2022 by-election, leveraging his connection with the then-presidential couple.
It was reported that Myung testified to prosecutors that the former first lady tried to offer a ministerial post or a head position at a state-run agency to the lawmaker, in exchange for supporting former prosecutor Kim Sang-min’s bid to win the 2024 general election in Uichang-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, a district previously held by the lawmaker herself.
Investigators also searched the private residence and offices of first lady Kim’s mother Choi Eun-soon and brother Kim Jin-woo as part of their inquiry into a housing project led by their family company ESI&D in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province.
ESI&D is under suspicion for receiving preferential treatment, including exemption of development fees, in a housing project in Yangpyeong from 2011 to 2016.
When the police investigated the allegations in 2023, only Kim’s brother and company’s four officials were referred to the prosecution on charges of document fabrication. But the mother Choi was dismissed from the case and the former first lady was not investigated at all on the grounds that they found insufficient grounds to open an investigation.
On Friday, investigators raided the office of Rep. Kim Sun-gyo of the PPP, who served as the county governor at the time of the housing project. He is also suspected of involvement in another allegation linked to the former first lady concerning the Seoul-Yangpyeong highway project.
The highway project sparked controversy as the land owned by Kim’s family in Yangpyeong was reviewed as the new endpoint of the expressway even after the Finance Ministry conducted the final evaluation to establish budget and fund management plan for the project.
Rep. Kim Sun-gyo was reportedly known as the individual, who requested a revision of the expressway route to pass through the area where the former first lady’s family owns land.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
