Former South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee is under scrutiny following revelations that she used a secure presidential phone line to speak with a top aide just weeks before being questioned in a major stock price manipulation and bribery probe.
The calls represent a significant development in the ongoing investigation led by independent counsel Min Joong-ki into Kim Keon Hee’s potential involvement in state affairs and possible preferential treatment by prosecutors as Korean media reported.
This comes after confirmation on Monday (16 June) that Kim Joo-hyun also used a secure line to speak with Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung last October — around the time prosecutors dropped charges against the first lady in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case.
Opposition lawmakers argue the calls may have been part of an effort to coordinate a response to the investigation.
“The use of a secure phone by Kim Keon Hee supports suspicions that she was involved in managing state affairs,” said Kim Hyun-jung, spokesperson for the Democratic Party. “Kim Joo-hyun, in his role as senior civil affairs secretary, appears to have acted as a legal proxy for both President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee to suppress investigations.”
Following confirmation of the secure calls between Shim and Kim Joo-hyun, the special counsel team’s probe may extend to the prosecution.
Shim has denied discussing any criminal cases with Kim Joo-hyun, saying on Monday, “There was no call related to a prosecutorial case.”
Ex-First Lady Kim Keon Hee has been hospitalized at Asan Medical Center in Seoul for severe depression, according to sources in the legal and medical communities. Her health condition was reported to not be critical.
Independent counsel Min Joong-ki said he learned of her hospitalization through media reports and would determine next steps after appointing deputy prosecutors.
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A man fatally stabbed two teenagers and seriously injured a third before falling from a motel window to his death in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, local authorities reported.
South Korean prosecutors have requested a 15-year prison sentence for former First Lady Kim Keon Hee, who is on trial for bribery, stock manipulation and fundraising offences, with a verdict due on 28 January.
The United States will reduce import duties on South Korean automobiles to 15%, effective retroactively from 1 November, according to an announcement by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday.
Han Hak-ja, who is accused of bribing former First Lady Kim Keon Hee with luxury gifts including Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace, went on trial in South Korea on Monday.
At least 37 people have been killed in flash floods triggered by torrential rain in Morocco's Atlantic coastal province of Safi, Moroccan authorities said on Monday (15 December).
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Schools across Cambodia and Thailand were forced to close on Monday (15 December) as border clashes between the two countries escalated, with the death toll reaching at least 40 and hundreds of thousands of people displaced, according to officials and local media.
Cambodia must be the first to declare a ceasefire in the ongoing border conflict, Thailand said on Tuesday (16 December), as fighting continued despite earlier claims that hostilities would stop and at least 52 people have been killed on both sides.
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