Former first lady 'exercised her right to remain silent' in first interrogation, investigators say
Published: 14 Aug. 2025, 18:22
Updated: 14 Aug. 2025, 19:55
![Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Aug. 12 after a detention hearing. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/f7723c2a-1074-4577-bc94-b3addc5dc526.jpg)
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Aug. 12 after a detention hearing. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, in her first interrogation by the special counsel since being taken into custody, exercised her right to remain silent regarding most of the allegations against her.
“We finished questioning at 2:10 p.m.,” Deputy Special Counsel Moon Hong-joo told reporters Thursday. “She exercised her right to remain silent on most charges, and we plan to summon her again for questioning on Aug. 18.”
According to the special counsel, the morning session ran from 9:56 a.m. to 11:27 a.m., lasting two hours. Questioning resumed at 1:32 p.m. and ended about 40 minutes later, at 2:10 p.m. Excluding breaks, the total interrogation time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Kim left the Seoul Southern Detention Center in Guro District, western Seoul, around 8:40 a.m. wearing handcuffs but dressed in plain clothes, rather than a prison uniform. The JoongAng Ilbo reported that she was wearing the same black two-piece suit she had on during her detention hearing on Tuesday.
Under the Act on the Execution of Sentences and Treatment of Inmates, pretrial detainees are permitted to wear their own clothes during questioning. In accordance with Justice Ministry regulations, she was equipped with protective restraints, the same as other female pretrial detainees.
![Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, bows after arriving at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Aug. 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/fbea9c17-4ad6-4965-9eac-4093b8458cf0.jpg)
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, bows after arriving at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Aug. 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Kim was brought to the special counsel’s office in Gwanghwamun for questioning. This was her first summons since her arrest Tuesday.
“Today’s session will address allegations of improper interference in elections and in candidate nominations,” the special counsel’s office said in a media notice Thursday morning. The transport van carrying Kim arrived at around 9:52 a.m. and entered the underground parking lot directly, making her arrival invisible to the public.
Kim is accused of receiving, free of charge, 58 public opinion polls worth 274.4 million won ($198,000) through power broker Myung Tae-kyun during the 20th presidential election in 2022, and in return seeking to exert unlawful influence to secure the nomination of former conservative People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Kim Young-sun.
![A vehicle carrying former first lady Kim Keon Hee enters the special counsel office building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Aug. 14. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/fef3420d-182c-44dd-9085-eea91436aba2.jpg)
A vehicle carrying former first lady Kim Keon Hee enters the special counsel office building in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Aug. 14. [NEWS1]
The special counsel's 22-page opinion filed Thursday, Aug. 7, also detailed the former first lady's alleged role in the nomination meddling.
The special counsel argued that Kim Keon Hee had conspired with former President Yoon Suk Yeol, receiving Myung’s request around mid-March 2022 to secure Kim Young-sun’s nomination and agreeing to it.
The special counsel claims that on May 8, 2022, Yoon — then president-elect — relayed instructions through his chief of staff, the late PPP Rep. Chang Je-won, to PPP Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, who was serving as chairman of the party’s nomination committee, to secure Kim Young-sun's nomination for the Changwon Uichang constituency.
The next day, May 9, Yoon Suk Yeol allegedly called Yoon Sang-hyun directly to reaffirm the order. Investigators believe these actions were carried out in collusion with Kim Keon-hee.
Before summoning Kim on Aug. 6, 2025, the special counsel questioned Myung, Kim Young-sun and Yoon Sang-hyun in succession. On July 27, they obtained testimony from Yoon Sang-hyun that he had spoken by phone with Yoon Suk Yeol about Kim Young-sun’s nomination during the 2022 parliamentary by-election.
![Former First Lady Kim Keon Hee, right, wears a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace (bottom right) during a dinner with Korean expatriates in Madrid on June 29, 2022, during a NATO summit trip with former President Yoon Suk Yeol. [JOINT PRESS CORPS, SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/05abdbef-5c09-440c-8b6a-bc50516e5f89.jpg)
Former First Lady Kim Keon Hee, right, wears a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace (bottom right) during a dinner with Korean expatriates in Madrid on June 29, 2022, during a NATO summit trip with former President Yoon Suk Yeol. [JOINT PRESS CORPS, SCREEN CAPTURE]
The Van Cleef & Arpels necklace that was considered a “hidden card” during the special counsel’s probe into Kim Keon Hee was not raised during her warrant hearing on Tuesday. During the detention hearing, Kim maintained that she “did not receive the necklace,” according to the JoongAng Ilbo.
The special counsel team said it focused on wrapping up its supplementary investigations into the three main allegations against Kim: stock manipulation involving Deutsch Motors, interference in a political nomination involving Myung and solicitation by the shaman Jeon Seong-bae, known as “Geon Jin.”
Prosecutors must decide whether to indict Kim Keon Hee within the maximum 20-day detention period.
However, the special counsel team is already in possession of a voluntary statement by Lee Bong-kwan, chairman of Seohee Construction, claiming he gifted not only the Van Cleef necklace to Kim shortly after the March 2022 presidential election, but also a pair of Graff earrings and a Tiffany brooch.
![Former First Lady Kim Keon Hee leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, after her detention hearing ends on Aug. 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/14/530e45e0-8388-48f9-a6eb-900a78170b8a.jpg)
Former First Lady Kim Keon Hee leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, after her detention hearing ends on Aug. 12. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
The three items were dubbed the “NATO three-piece set” after the former first lady was spotted wearing the Van Cleef at a dinner with Korean expatriates as part of Yoon's trip to Madrid for a NATO summit in 2022.
The team also presented the authentic necklace as evidence during the detention hearing, prompting Kim Keon Hee’s side to push back, arguing that the necklace probe was a separate investigation.
The former first lady is scheduled to appear again on Monday. On the same day, the special counsel team will summon Jeon.
“We are still coordinating within the team on which allegation to focus on,” Moon stated regarding Kim’s upcoming questioning. “It hasn’t been decided whether we will continue with the nomination interference or switch to a different issue.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG, YANG SU-MIN, JEON MIN-GOO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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