South Korea has entered uncharted political territory after former first lady Kim Keon Hee was arrested on multiple corruption charges while her husband, former president Yoon Suk Yeol, remains in custody over an alleged attempt to impose martial law.
A Seoul Central District Court granted a detention warrant late Tuesday, citing concerns that Kim might destroy evidence. She is accused of violating capital market laws, accepting illegal political funds, and receiving luxury gifts in exchange for business favours. The arrest follows a special investigation launched in June by prosecutors under President Lee Jae Myung, focusing on 16 allegations against Kim, though the current charges cover only three.
Prosecutors allege Kim won over $800 million by conspiring to manipulate the share price of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealership, between 2009 and 2012. They also claim she benefited from free opinion polling services worth over 270 million won to influence candidate nominations in the People Power Party’s 2022 by-elections. A third allegation involves Kim receiving Chanel handbags, jewellery, and other luxury items from an intermediary connected to the Unification Church in exchange for development project support in Cambodia.
Kim, who attended court in a black suit and skirt, denied the charges during a four-hour hearing. She reportedly said she was frustrated that matters from before her marriage continued to be brought up.
Yoon, who had been impeached and removed from office in April, was detained in July after prosecutors reopened a probe into his brief declaration of martial law last December. During his presidency, he had vetoed opposition-led bills seeking a special investigation into his wife’s activities.
The couple’s simultaneous detention marks the first time in South Korea’s history that both a former president and a former first lady have been jailed at the same time. The Nambu Detention Centre in southwestern Seoul will hold Kim, while Yoon stays at Seoul Detention Centre.
The investigation has widened recently. Authorities are also investigating whether Kim’s luxury diamond necklace was associated with a political appointment in 2022. She has maintained that the piece was a borrowed imitation.
The case underscores South Korea’s long-standing pattern of political turbulence, where corruption investigations often follow presidential terms, but the jailing of both members of a presidential couple is without precedent.
