Kim Geon-hee: "It's frustrating that issues from before marriage are being brought up"

Kim Geon-hee, spouse of former President Yoon Seok-yeol, expressed her feelings of frustration during the warrant review hearing held on the 12th, stating, "It’s upsetting that issues prior to marriage continue to be mentioned."

On that day, Kim was interrogated at the Seoul Central District Court in courtroom 321 under the presiding judge Jeong Jae-wook from 10:10 AM.

In her final statement during the interrogation, Kim briefly expressed her stance for about 20 to 30 seconds, saying, "I hope the judge makes a fair judgment."

The "issues before marriage" mentioned by Kim are interpreted to refer to the allegations of stock price manipulation involving Deutsche Motors.

The special prosecution team alleges that Kim participated in stock price manipulation from October 2010 to December 2012 by providing a securities account valued at approximately 3.6 billion won to former Deutsche Motors chairman Kwon Oh-soo and other manipulators, resulting in profits of around 811.44 million won through 3,832 instances of collusive transactions involving high-priced and phantom purchases. Kim and former President Yoon got married in March 2012.

4 hours and 25 minutes of hearing… Dispute over evidence destruction

The hearing lasted approximately 4 hours and 25 minutes.

The special prosecution team submitted a total of 848 pages of opinions to the court, emphasizing Kim's potential for evidence destruction. In contrast, Kim's legal representatives reportedly stressed that she has cooperated sincerely with the special prosecution's investigation, poses no flight risk, and is not in good health.

Kim is currently awaiting a decision on her detention at the Seoul Southern Detention Center. The warrant issuance decision is expected to be announced late that night at the earliest, or by early the next day at the latest. Until the decision is made, she is waiting in the suspect waiting room, having returned her personal belongings such as her mobile phone.

Special Prosecution: "Seohui Construction admits to providing the NATO trip necklace"

Meanwhile, Special Prosecutor Oh Jeong-hee stated during a regular briefing that "Seohui Construction has submitted a self-report acknowledging the fact that they provided the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace worn by Kim during her visit to the NATO summit in June 2022."

The special prosecution team confiscated the genuine necklace, which Seohui Construction had given to Kim and then retrieved years later, in the form of voluntary submission, and is investigating its potential connection to a request for the appointment of Park Seong-keun, former chief secretary of the Prime Minister's Office and the chairman's son-in-law.

Image Source: Kim Geon-hee arrives at the court to undergo a warrant review hearing (interrogation before detention). / News1, News1