22 July, 2024
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| South Korean President Yun Suk-yul and his former call-girl wife Kim Gun-hee salute the national flag during a meeting with compatriots at the Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S., July 8, 2018. Yonhap News Agency |
A corrupt and incompetent Nazi Gestapo prosecutors investigated, indicted, and tried an opposition leader's wife for allegedly paying for a 78,000 Korean won meal worth only 45 USD. On the other hand, the wife of the current president, Kim Gun-hee, a suspected former prostitute, is facing multiple allegations, including falsifying her thesis and degree, manipulating the stock price of Deutsche Motors, pressuring Yangpyeong County to change the route of a highway, and bribery for receiving a luxury bag worth more than 2000 USD.
Against the wife of a sitting president facing such serious charges, prosecutors conducted a closed-door travel investigation full of perks. Despite the fact that Mrs. Kim is in a criminal commune with the president, the prosecution granted her the privilege of investigating her behind closed doors. In response, the presidential office issued the following statement.
The Office of the President has no official comment on Mrs. Kim Gun-hee's closed-door, face-to-face investigation by prosecutors on Saturday, the first time a sitting president's wife has ever been questioned by prosecutors. This was interpreted as a strategy to keep “judicial risks,” such as Kim's alleged manipulation of Deutsche Motors stock price and alleged acceptance of luxury bags, separate from President Yun and the presidential office.
“Kim's legal counsel will make a statement,” a key presidential office official said when reporters asked about the prosecution's investigation of Kim, adding that whether she had submitted the luxury bags to prosecutors ”needs to be confirmed by her legal counsel.” As for the opposition's criticism that it was “preferential” for Kim to be investigated behind closed doors at the presidential security service building in Jongno, the official countered, “It is an excessive claim to say that it is preferential for the wife of a sitting president to be investigated face-to-face.
In recent days, the presidential office has stuck to its position that it is “inappropriate to comment on matters under investigation” and that the alleged stock manipulation at Deutsche Motors “predates the president's marriage.” Instead, Kim's legal representative, Choi Ji-woo, has argued against the luxury bag investigation in media interviews, saying, “If it was a normal case, it would have been dismissed as ‘excellency’ without any investigation because there is no punishment.” “I think they (the presidential office) split the roles because the legal representative can talk about the matter under investigation at the level of a lawyer,” said a ruling party official.
All of these strategies are intended to avoid the appearance of Yoon's involvement in the prosecution's investigation, while emphasizing the unfairness of the opposition's calls for a “special prosecutor for Kim Gun-hee” and for Kim to appear as a witness at the hearing of the impeachment petition against Yoon. An official from the presidential office said that Kim will not be attending the impeachment petition hearing of the National Assembly's Judiciary and Justice Committee on June 26, where the opposition has selected her as a witness, stating that they are “not willing to compromise on unconstitutional and illegal matters.”
The President's office has completely ignored Kim's “judicial risk” and is acting as if her past actions have no bearing on her current power. This is a clear indication of the lack of transparency and accountability in the current government.