South Korea: Special counsel raids police, lawmakers in ex-first lady probe

Seoul, July 8 (IANS) A special counsel team raided the national police agency as well as the offices and homes of current and former lawmakers Tuesday as part of its investigation into corruption allegations involving South Korea's former first lady, Kim Keon Hee, legal sources said.

In a statement to the media, the team said it was executing a search warrant at the Korean National Police Agency to obtain relevant materials in cooperation with the agency.

The team also dispatched prosecutors to a police station in Chuncheon, about 75 kilometers northeast of Seoul, to carry out search and seizure operations to secure investigation records related to alleged overseas gambling by Unification Church leadership.

The investigation appears to focus on allegations that the Unification Church, after learning of a police probe, lobbied influential figures close to former President Yoon Suk Yeol in an attempt to derail the investigation.

In June 2022, Chuncheon Police Station launched an investigation into suspicions that church leader Han Hak-ja and senior executives gambled about 60 billion won (US$44 million) at casinos in Las Vegas between 2008 and 2011.

The church allegedly obtained information about the investigation, and suspicions have since emerged that the probe was quashed with the help of "pro-Yoon" figures.

The special counsel is expected to investigate whether the church was aware of the police probe and whether it engaged in lobbying efforts to obstruct it, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, the team searched the office and home of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun in Seoul, as well as the home of former PPP Rep. Kim Young-sun in the southeastern city of Changwon, the sources said.

In addition, investigators were searching the home of former prosecutor Kim Sang-min, they said.

The raids are part of special counsel Min Joong-ki's investigation into allegations the former first lady, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, meddled in the PPP's nomination of candidates for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and 2024 general elections.

In the case of the 2022 elections, the former president has also been suspected of involvement.

In a previously disclosed phone call, allegedly recorded in May 2022, Yoon suggested to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun that he would instruct Rep. Yoon to make sure Kim Young-sun wins the party's nomination for a district in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

Meanwhile, in the case of the 2024 general elections, the former first lady is suspected of having tried to get the former prosecutor nominated for the district previously won by Kim Young-sun.

--IANS

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