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Prosecutors likely to speed up investigations into dismissed president and his wife

입력 2025.04.07 17:53

Lee Hong-keun

Prosecutors likely to speed up investigations into dismissed president and his wife

With the dismissal of former President Yoon Su-yeol, investigations into various suspicions surrounding Yoon and his wife Kim Keon-hee, such as the relocation of the official residence and the illegal involvement in the nomination for by-elections, will also be able to speed up. The suspicion of the illegal involvement in the nomination for by-elections, which has made considerable progress in the investigation, is drawing the most attention. It is predicted that the investigation into Yoon and his wife will begin soon.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's investigation team took over all investigation records related to Yoon and his wife’s alleged intervention in the nomination on February 17 from the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office. Yoon and Kim are accused of receiving free polling results from political broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the last presidential election in exchange for their involvement in the nomination of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun in the by-election in 2022, which was requested by Myung. Evidence has already shown that Yoon and his wife had a close relationship with Myung before and after the last presidential election, including audio recordings and KakaoTalk messages.

The prosecution has obtained a significant amount of evidence to prove the charges, including KakaoTalk messages between Yoon and Myung, files related to polls, and call recordings from Myung's cell phone. Regarding the nomination of former lawmaker Kim, Yoon said to Myung, “I told to do something for Kim Young-sun,” and the former First Lady said, "Don't worry too much. It will be alright,” which is solid evidence. Former First Lady is also suspected of conciliating former lawmaker Kim that she would give her a minister or a presidential position of a public company if she helped prosecutor Kim Sang-min win the general election last year.

Prosecutors are expected to ramp up their investigation now that Yoon's dismissal has removed barriers that made it difficult to investigate the couple. There is also the risk of launching a major investigation targeting political figures once the early presidential election campaign begins in earnest. That is why prosecutors are expected to try to wrap up the major strands of the investigations, including the subpoena of Yoon, by early to mid-next month, when presidential candidate registration closes.

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A prosecution official said on April 6 that “no concrete discussions have been held yet” regarding the investigation of the former president and his wife, but that “the change in Yoon's status could be considered." There is also speculation that the prosecution will launch a search and seizure of Yoon and his wife before summoning them.

Investigations into Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, who are suspected of paying for polls related to Myung, are also expected to be finalized before the presidential race gets underway. In particular, in the case of Oh, there are observations that the investigation of key figures is mostly over, so there will be summons investigations for them sooner or later.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.