Investigation against First Lady: Accusation in chaos

Attorney General Lee One-seok apologized on Monday for prosecutors’ private questioning of First Lady Kim Keon Hee over the weekend, saying her summons had violated investigative principles.

Lee said on Monday that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which is under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office headed by Lee, had extraordinary circumstances initiated an interrogation of Kim – a suspect – behind closed doors at an unspecified location outside the prosecutor’s office without informing him of the matter beforehand. Traditionally, the prosecutor’s office lets some high-profile suspects enter the prosecutor’s office on camera for interrogation if they have not been charged.

Kim, the wife of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sworn in in May 2022, faces numerous allegations, including involvement in illegal stock price manipulation in the early 2000s and violating corruption laws for accepting a Dior bag worth 3 million won ($2,160) in September 2022. The allegations were recorded by a spy camera and later published online.

“I have repeatedly promised people that there will be no exceptions or immunity from prosecution,” Lee told reporters on his way to his office in Seoul.

“But such a principle was simply neglected in our investigations against the President’s wife, so that I could not keep my promise to the people.”

Lee’s remarks were delivered in an apologetic tone after he promised in May to “investigate Kim promptly and rigorously based on evidence and in accordance with law and principles” when prosecutors announced the launch of an investigation into Kim’s alleged violations of the Anti-Corruption Law, five months after filing a criminal complaint against her.

Now, two months later, Lee said, “I have not been able to receive any notification from a district-level prosecutor’s office,” apparently referring to Lee Chang-soo, the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, who had failed to inform him or speak to him about the procedure for investigating South Korea’s first lady.

“But I feel responsible for not being able to guide the prosecutors there in the right direction. I deeply apologize for what I am liable for,” said Lee One-seok.

The prosecutor general added that he would take appropriate action against Lee Chang-soo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who was formerly Yoon’s spokesman when he was the country’s top prosecutor. Lee, of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, had reportedly expressed regret that he could not inform his superior of the investigation, adding that his decision was due to concerns that the prosecutor general might oppose the plan.

“I will do my utmost to restore the constitutional principle of judicial impartiality,” said the Attorney General, whose two-year term ends in September.

Lee’s remarks were in response to the revelation by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which is under the top prosecutors’ office, that it had conducted a prosecutorial interrogation of Kim on Saturday at an unspecified location it described as “a government agency (related to) security under its control.” The location was reportedly a presidential security service office outside the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

However, some within the ruling bloc responded with backlash to Lee’s claims. People Power Party lawmaker Jeong Jeom-sig claimed in an emergency party meeting on Monday that it was plausible that prosecutors would conduct Kim’s interrogation behind closed doors, citing potential security concerns if they did not.

Korea’s main opposition party, the Democratic Party, and other parties have joined forces to denounce the presidency.

Lawmaker Park Jie-won, a veteran politician who served as intelligence chief during Yoon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in’s administration, said in a radio interview that the national prosecution service had collapsed and the attorney general had been isolated, bolstering the party’s claim that the first lady must undergo an investigation by a special prosecutor.

Her Eun-a, a former lawmaker who now leads the opposition New Reform Party, said the fact that Kim is South Korea’s first lady cannot justify Kim “deserving special treatment” in the face of possible prosecution.

No South Korean first lady has been interrogated while a president was in office. The wives of the late former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Moo-hyun, as well as former President Lee Myung-bak, were interrogated, but only after their terms as first lady ended.

A senior official in the presidential office declined to comment on the matter, saying that the investigation into Kim was still ongoing.