The Supreme Court has issued an additional arrest warrant for Kim Geon-hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, just four days before her initial detention was set to expire.
The Supreme Court's Second Division, led by Justice Oh Kyung-mi, held a hearing on the arrest warrant for Kim on the afternoon of October 27, lasting approximately 45 minutes, before deciding to issue the warrant. The court stated that there is a "risk of evidence destruction or flight," clearly outlining the reasons for the arrest.
As a result, Kim's detention period, which was scheduled to end on October 31, has been extended to December 31 of this year.
Previously, Kim was arrested and indicted in August of last year by the special investigation team led by Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki over three major allegations: stock manipulation involving Deutsche Motors, polling irregularities related to Myungtaek-kyun, and bribery linked to the Unification Church. In April, she was sentenced to four years in prison in a second trial, but the Supreme Court postponed the ruling on her appeal, referring the case to the full bench for deliberation on the polling irregularities.
As the maximum legal detention period for the three major allegations approached on October 31, the special investigation team requested an additional warrant from the appellate court handling a separate case, where Kim was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery.
Currently incarcerated at the Seoul Southern Detention Center, Kim denied the charges during a video hearing, pleading for her release. She claimed, "I received items not out of greed but as a gesture of goodwill and returned them afterward, and I had no involvement in personnel decisions." Her legal team argued that the issuance of the additional warrant was an unjust "separate detention" given her severe health deterioration diagnosed during detention.
However, the Supreme Court accepted the special investigation team's concerns regarding the risk of flight and evidence destruction, ultimately deciding to issue the warrant.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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