Wife of jailed former president Yoon arrested

Investigators say Kim Keon Hee faces charges including bribery, stock manipulation, and meddling in the selection of a candidate for a 2022 by election.

Wife of jailed former president Yoon arrested

Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, was arrested after a special prosecutor requested detention. The court cited a risk of destroying evidence as investigators pursue accusations that include bribery, stock manipulation, and meddling in the nomination of a candidate for a 2022 by election, reportedly at the urging of election broker Myung Tae Kyun. Myung faces charges of conducting manipulated opinion surveys that could have helped Yoon win the party primaries.

Kim appeared at the court for hours of questioning and is being held in a detention center. Investigators can extend detention for up to 20 days before formal charges are filed. This case forms part of three special probes launched by a liberal government targeting the Yoon presidency, and it marks the first time a presidential couple is jailed simultaneously over criminal allegations.

This is a test of how far political accountability will go in a polarized era. The new liberal government has framed the probes as a broader effort to scrutinize the presidency and its inner circle, not just aides. If the investigations widen, public confidence in the rule of law could be affected, for better or worse. The case also highlights tensions within party politics, as investigative momentum collides with electoral calculations. How Seoul handles evidence, transparency, and due process in the coming days will shape how the public reads future probes.

Highlights

A coming chapter will reveal how much leverage the probes really have over political power.