Former President Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Keon-hee, submitted an opinion stating that the allegations regarding her involvement in the nomination related to political broker Myung Tae-kyun do not hold.
According to the legal community on the 9th, Kim's attorney submitted an opinion to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office that claims the allegations of violating the Political Funds Act and bribery against Myung do not meet the requirements or are contradictory.
Kim is accused of intervening in the nomination in exchange for receiving a public opinion poll for free from Myung during the 2022 presidential election process. It is said that she helped former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun get nominated in the Changwon, Uichang constituency in Gyeongnam.
Regarding these allegations, Kim's attorney stated that Myung has conducted the public opinion polls for personal purposes and that they are unrelated to Kim's requests. Even if they received the results, there is no difference from a politician and a journalist receiving the results of a public opinion poll in advance.
It is reported that the prosecution applied the charges of bribery and obstruction of business through coercion in the search warrant for Kim. However, they argued that since there is no explicit contractual relationship between Kim and Myung, it cannot be considered an act of debt exemption or reduction prohibited by the Political Funds Act. They claim that the results of Myung's opinion polls have no economic value, and since the ruling party's nominations are not part of the presidential office's duties, the charges cannot be established.
They also argued that since there is no evidence of outside pressure from Kim during the People Power Party's nomination management process, charges of obstruction of business cannot be applied.
The allegations of Kim's nomination interference are expected to soon transition to a special prosecutor as the special prosecutor law is set to be promulgated. The 'Kim Keon-hee Special Prosecutor Law' is expected to be presented at the Cabinet meeting on the 10th for promulgation. Once the special prosecutor law is promulgated, a special prosecutor could be launched within 11 days. There is also a possibility that the special prosecutor could be launched as early as this week.