Yoon, a conservative ousted from office in April, was rearrested last month in connection with a December 3 martial law order he issued. Church politicians are held accountable for their wrong attitudes, but in South Korea, one bad president follows another — so history would attest he was his own perdition, not deserving, for the first time in that bizarre country's presidential political history were husband and wife double-locked up at the same time on criminal charges!
Political and Personal Scandal Intertwined
Prosecutors also suspect that Kim and Yoon had attempted to sway the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to nominate a certain candidate in a legislative by-election for 2022, reportedly via poll meddling broker Myung Tae-kyun. Myung is alleged to have conducted fake opinion polls that allegedly helped Yoon win his party's presidential nomination.
Kim has also been tied to allegations involving a fortuneteller acting on behalf of the official at the Unification Church who showered her in luxury presents, as well as to an apparent stock manipulation scheme that stretches all the way back to a nearby BMW dealership. Investigators this week arrested a friend of Kim who returned from Vietnam and are investigating whether he leveraged his friendship with her to arrange investments of millions of dollars. On Monday, a raid on a construction company centred around suspicions that its chairman purchased a $43,000 necklace investigators suspected Kim wore on a 2022 European journey she made with Yoon, which she denied this week was real; instead, arguing it was an imitation jewellery piece lent to her.
Expanding Investigations and Political Fallout
Kim was questioned for seven hours last week by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, who was appointed in June by President Lee Jae Myung before arrest warrants were sought for her. Another relative — a sister-in-law of Yoon — is being questioned in another facility and can be detained for up to 20 days before formal charges must be filed.
In office, Yoon dismissed the attempts to probe his spouse as a politically charged attack and vetoed probes by enacting related laws. In June, special investigations were ordered by Lee in response to the winner-takes-all presidency into Yoon's martial law affair, as well as the Kim case and a 2023 marine drowning during an unsuccessful flood rescue that Yoon's government is suspected of hiding. Yoon's martial law was lifted after just hours as lawmakers voted to impeach him in December, and he was ousted from office in April. Now he is on trial for rebellion and other charges.
