South Korea's former first lady Kim Keon Hee apologised on Wednesday as she appeared before a special counsel for questioning over several criminal allegations, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Kim and ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol are under separate investigations by special prosecutors appointed after he was impeached and then removed from office for briefly declaring martial law.
Kim, the wife of jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, was the subject of numerous high-profile scandals, some dating back more than 15 years, which overshadowed Yoon's turbulent presidency and inflicted political damage on him and his conservative party.
Kim also faces a long list of charges, including stock fraud, bribery and illegal influence peddling that have implicated big business owners, religious figures and a political power broker.
According to charges against her, one included whether she broke the law by wearing a luxury Van Cleef pendant reportedly priced at more than 60 million won ($43,200) on the first couple's trip to the NATO summit in 2022.
The item was not listed in the Yoons' financial disclosure as required by law, according to the charge.
Before Yoon's election in 2022 and under intense political pressure, Kim stood before cameras to apologise for falsifying her academic records and promised to behave as a responsible spouse of a national leader.
When hidden camera footage that appeared to show Kim accepting a Christian Dior bag as a gift, Yoon refused to say it may have been illegal or inappropriate. After a review, the state prosecutors' office decided not to charge her.
An artwork valued at several million dollars and tens of thousands of dollars in cash seized by the special prosecutor's team are also linked to her, according to media reports that have covered her travails.
"I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people," Kim said. "I will come out after faithfully undergoing the investigation."
In a message to reporters, Kim's lawyers, in late July, denied the allegations against her and said that the news reports about some of the gifts she allegedly received were groundless speculation.
She is the first spouse of a current or former South Korean president to publicly appear as a criminal suspect.
Also on Wednesday, a team led by Special Counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon raided the Foreign Ministry as part of an investigation into claims that former Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup, was allowed to leave the country to evade a probe into alleged government interference in a military investigation into a Marine’s death in 2023.
The team has been investigating the circumstances surrounding his sudden appointment as ambassador to Australia on March 4, 2024, when he was being probed by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials over his alleged involvement in the external intervention in the Marine death case.
