South Korea: Ex-first lady Kim to appear for questioning for 3rd time in bribery probe

Seoul, Aug 21 (IANS) Jailed South Korean former first lady Kim Keon Hee will appear before a special counsel team Thursday for questioning over various corruption allegations, marking her third appearance since her arrest last week.

Kim, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, was scheduled to arrive at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office at 2 p.m. after being placed under custody last Tuesday on various charges, including violating laws related to political funds.

The team is expected to question Kim about bribery allegations of receiving luxury gifts from the Unification Church through a shaman, identified as Jeon Seong-bae, in 2022.

Jeon has been accused of giving Kim a diamond necklace and Chanel bags on behalf of the church between April and August 2022. Jeon allegedly delivered requests for business favours from the church along with the luxury gifts.

In her previous questioning on Tuesday, Kim was questioned mainly on charges of interfering in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and 2024 general elections and about her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation case, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim exercised her right to remain silent for most of the questions.

Meanwhile, Jeon waived his right to attend a court hearing on his potential arrest later in the day, with the judge set to review the warrant request without his presence.

Min's team filed for the warrant against Jeon on Tuesday on charges of bribery and violation of laws related to political funds.

The team was also set to question Lee Jong-ho, a close associate of Kim, as a witness regarding the stock manipulation case involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, from 2009 to 2012.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the detention period for South Korea's former first lady Kim Keon Hee had been extended by 10 days to the end of this month, special counsel Min Joong-ki's team said.

The team had said in a press release that a court decided on Tuesday to extend Kim's detention period to August 31.

--IANS

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