Self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun on Thursday appeared before a special counsel team over an investigation into corruption allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon Hee as a suspect over alleged meddling in election nominations.
Myung arrived at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office in central Seoul for the two-day session set to take place through Friday that will likely focus on his ties with Kim and her husband, former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
"I would also like to find what the truth and facts are at the special counsel today and tomorrow," Myung told reporters before entering the office.
The team has been looking into suspicions Kim and her husband received free opinion polls from Myung ahead of the 2022 presidential election in exchange for the nomination of former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun for a parliamentary by-election later that year.
Myung has also claimed that he had been asked by former first lady Kim to support efforts for former prosecutor Kim Sang-min to get nominated for a district in the southeastern city of Changwon previously won by the former lawmaker ahead of last year's parliamentary elections.
He was promised a position as a minister or president of a state-owned company in return, according to Myung.
The special counsel team has conducted multiple raids in connection to the allegations, searching the homes and offices of Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who served as the PPP's nomination committee chief in 2022, and Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the New Reform Party, who was the PPP's leader at the time.
Separately, the former first lady's brother Kim Jin-woo appeared at the team's office to attend inspections of digital items seized from his home and company office last week amid allegations his company received preferential treatment in an apartment construction project in Yangpyeong County, east of Seoul, from 2011 to 2016.
The team is also looking into allegations that the former first lady omitted luxury items that she had worn overseas in her legally required asset disclosure, including an expensive necklace.
It seized an item suspected to be the necklace during a raid at the home of the brother's mother-in-law, but it has been determined to be a replica.
The team suspects the necklace could have possibly been switched. Kim's brother refused to answer questions about the necklace when he appeared for questioning Monday. (Yonhap)
