Kim Keon Hee, the wife of Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s impeached and ousted president, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of bribery, stock manipulation and political influence-peddling. She is the first former lady to be put behind bars in the country’s history.
Mr. Yoon, who was driven from office after his failed attempt to place South Korea under martial law in December, is already in jail and standing trial on insurrection charges. Four other former presidents of South Korea had been imprisoned before, but this is the first time that both a former president and his wife have been jailed in the country.
When Ms. Kim presented herself for questioning by a special counsel last week, she apologized for “causing concern to the people” and said she was “a nobody.” But she has been at the center of a slew of corruption scandals that have plagued her husband’s government and undermined his popularity.
Ms. Kim has not directly commented on the accusations against her. But her lawyers have denied them, vowing to prove her innocence in court.
While Mr. Yoon was in power, government prosecutors did not press any charges against Ms. Kim. When the opposition-controlled National Assembly passed bills calling for an independent prosecutor to investigate the allegations against his wife, Mr. Yoon called them politically inspired and vetoed them.
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