All three charges are accomplices: Yoon and Myeong Tae-gyun intervened in the nomination process, accepted bribes from the law firm Geonjin, and manipulated stock prices with the Doichi group.

Just 59 days after the special prosecutor's inauguration, the first indictment of a First Lady... Numerous remaining allegations, including bribery of precious metals, are expected, with additional indictments expected.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Lee Young-seop and Park Jae-ha = Mrs. Kim Keon-hee, who has been under investigation by the Minjoonggi Special Prosecutor's Team on various suspicions, was taken into custody and brought to trial on the 29th.

The special prosecution team arrested and indicted Ms. Kim on charges of violating the Capital Market Act, the Political Funds Act, and bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes.

It has been 59 days since the special prosecution team officially launched its investigation by holding a ceremony on the 2nd of last month.

This is the first time a former first lady has been brought to trial while in custody.

This marks the first time in constitutional history that a president and his wife have been detained and tried simultaneously. Former President Yoon Seok-yeol was previously indicted and tried by a special prosecutor for sedition.

The charges against Mrs. Kim are directly related to the suspicion of stock price manipulation at Deutsche Motors, the suspicion of election interference by Myeong Tae-gyun, and the suspicion of solicitation from the Buddhist monk Geonjin and the Unification Church.

These are cases that were investigated relatively extensively before the launch of the special prosecution team among the investigation targets specified in the Special Prosecutor's Act.

It appears that the special prosecution team was able to easily establish the charges sufficiently to bring the case to trial. These three charges were also previously listed in the arrest warrant.

The 17-page indictment specifically states that between October 2010 and December 2012, he conspired with former Deutsche Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo and former Black Pearl Investment CEO Lee Jong-ho to manipulate the stock price of Deutsche Motors, thereby obtaining 810 million won in illegitimate profits (Capital Market Act).

Mrs. Kim has maintained that she merely entrusted money to former Chairman Kwon and others, but was not specifically involved in stock price manipulation. However, the special prosecutors' team determined that Mrs. Kim was not merely a"money lender," but rather fully aware of the stock price manipulation and shared a role with the other participants, making her an accomplice.

There is also an allegation that he colluded with former President Yoon between June 2021 and March 2022 to receive a total of 58 opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won from political broker Myeong Tae-gyun for free (violation of the Political Funds Act).

The allegation that former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun and others were influenced to secure nominations in the 2022 June 1 by-election in exchange for receiving opinion poll results is also under investigation, but is not included in this indictment. The special prosecutor's team plans to continue its investigation in this regard.

Mrs. Kim is also accused of colluding with Buddhist monk Jeon Seong-bae to receive a request for support for the church from a Unification Church official between April and July 2022 and receiving a total of 80 million won in bribes, including an expensive necklace (bribery by brokerage under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes).

The special prosecution team was unable to secure the requested items, a diamond necklace from British luxury brand Graff and a Chanel bag, but concluded that they were all delivered to Ms. Kim.

The special prosecutors' team also considered charging Ms. Kim with bribery based on the opinion poll results obtained from Ms. Myung and the assumption of collusion with former President Yoon regarding the Unification Church's bribery. However, the indictment ruled this out, concluding that collusion with former President Yoon was not sufficiently proven.

In the case of the Myeongsi opinion poll incident, it was found that the fact that former President Yoon was not a public official at the time of the crime also had an impact.

If further investigation uncovers evidence proving her collusion with former President Yoon, bribery charges could also be filed against Ms. Kim. Bribery is committed when a public official accepts, requests, or promises a bribe in connection with his or her duties.

However, since Mrs. Kim is not a public official, applying this charge would require evidence of a prior agreement with former President Yoon to benefit a specific individual and receive a bribe in return. Therefore, applying this charge is difficult.

In this indictment, Mrs. Kim's criminal proceeds were estimated at a total of 1.03 billion won. Along with the indictment, the special prosecution team requested a seizure and preservation order for this proceeds.

Forfeiture preservation is a measure to freeze illegally acquired assets before sentencing to prevent their arbitrary disposal. Confiscation of illegal proceeds is the rule; if this is not possible, the proceeds are recovered.

Since her arrest on the 12th, Mrs. Kim has been summoned and questioned by the special prosecution team a total of five times on the 14th, 18th, 21st, 25th, and the day before, but she has refused to answer most of the questions.

As he is denying all charges, it is expected that he will actively explain himself during the trial.

Mrs. Kim's legal team also told Yonhap News,"We exercised our right to remain silent because there is a possibility that our testimony may be distorted during the special prosecution, but we will appear in court as faithfully as possible to refute the special prosecution's claims."

The special prosecution team is expected to summon Ms. Kim several more times in the future to investigate the remaining suspicions.

A representative example is the 'suspected bribery scandal' in which expensive jewelry and other items were received from several people and various requests were accepted.

The special prosecution team is investigating allegations that in March 2022, Ms. Kim received a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, earrings, and a brooch, the so-called"NATO trio," from Lee Bong-kwan, chairman of Seohee Construction, along with a request for her eldest son-in-law to work in public office.

They are also looking into allegations that he received a Vacheron Constantin watch worth 50 million won from Mr. Seo, a major supporter of former President Yoon, in exchange for business favors in September 2022, and that he received a gold turtle from Lee Bae-yong, chairman of the National Education Commission, along with a personnel request.

In addition, there are still remaining investigation targets, such as the suspicion of changes to the Yangpyeong Expressway route as specified in the Special Prosecutor's Act, the suspicion of preferential treatment in the development of the Yangpyeong Gongheung District, and the suspicion of preferential treatment in the relocation of the official residence.