Special Investigation Team Applies to Change Kim Gun-hee's Detention Location to 'Seoul Southern Detention Center'

The Special Investigation Team investigating allegations against Kim Gun-hee (led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki) requested the court to change Kim's detention location from the Seoul Detention Center to the Seoul Southern Detention Center on the day of the substantive examination of the arrest warrant.

This move is interpreted as an attempt to avoid contact with former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center.

On the 11th, the Special Investigation Team announced through a media statement that they submitted a request to the court to change Kim's detention location from the Seoul Detention Center to the Seoul Southern Detention Center at the request of the Seoul Detention Center.

Former President Yoon was re-arrested by the Insurrection Special Investigation Team (led by Special Prosecutor Jo Eun-seok) on the 10th of last month and is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center.

Immediate Transfer to Detention Center After Warrant Examination… Deviation from Usual Practice

Typically, suspects who undergo substantive examinations for arrest warrants at the Seoul Central District Court are transferred to the Seoul Detention Center located in Gyeonggi Province in Uiwang city, while suspects examined at the Seoul Southern District Court are taken to the Seoul Southern Detention Center in Guro District, Seoul. This is not a legal mandate but rather a practice based on geographic conditions and precedents.

With this change request, Kim will be transferred to the Seoul Southern Detention Center instead of the Seoul Detention Center after the examination, where she will await the outcome. If the arrest warrant is issued, she will remain in detention; if denied, she will be released.

Kim's pre-arrest examination is scheduled for 10:10 AM on the 12th at the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Jeong Jae-wook. The allegations outlined in the arrest warrant include violations of the Capital Markets Act (manipulating the stock price of Deutsche Motors), violations of the Political Funds Act (involvement in the nomination of political broker Myung-taek Kyun), and solicitation for bribes under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment for Specific Crimes (solicitation through Ganjin’s law).

Anticipation of Dispute Over Evidence and Denial of Allegations

The Special Investigation Team is expected to emphasize the concern of evidence destruction, as Kim denies most of the allegations. On the other hand, Kim’s side is anticipated to focus on the lack of substantiated evidence against her.

The Special Investigation Team announced that deputy special prosecutors would not attend this warrant examination, but that Chief Prosecutor Han Moon-hyuk and eight other prosecutors would be present. After submitting a 572-page arrest opinion document on the 7th, they submitted an additional 276-page document to the court on the morning of the examination.

Chief Prosecutor Han has been involved in both the investigation of the stock price manipulation of Deutsche Motors by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office’s re-investigation team, and it is reported that he played a leading role in the questioning during Kim's summons on the 6th.

Image sources: Kim Gun-hee / News1, Seoul Southern Detention Center / Monthly Correction