Ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee's mother misses final deadline to pay $1.7 million in overdue penalties
Published: 16 Dec. 2025, 12:53
Updated: 16 Dec. 2025, 13:20
![Choi Eun-soon, the mother of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, appears for questioning as a suspect at the special counsel’s office in the KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Nov. 4. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/16/28405c83-7777-469d-a50b-69a3a110cedc.jpg)
Choi Eun-soon, the mother of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, appears for questioning as a suspect at the special counsel’s office in the KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Nov. 4. [NEWS1]
Choi Eun-soon, the mother of former first lady Kim Keon Hee, missed the final deadline to pay 2.5 billion won ($1.7 million) in penalty surcharges for holding property under another person's name, officials said on Tuesday.
The deadline to pay the fines expired on Monday, and local authorities are now considering auctioning off the real estate seized from Choi.
Gyeonggi and Seongnam officials said the Seongnam city government had warned Choi about her unpaid penalties just last month.
The notice comes after the Wetax tax platform disclosed the names of major delinquent players on Nov. 19. According to the list, Choi was the country’s largest defaulter of local administrative fines.
Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Dong-yeon addressed the case earlier this month during a visit to Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi, where he examined the local economic conditions.
“The nature of Choi’s delinquency is extremely serious,” Kim said on Dec. 4. “We have issued a final notice together with Seongnam. If she does not pay the penalty, we will move [...] to auction off the property to uphold tax justice.”
The penalties date back to a 2020 ruling which found that Choi had violated the Act on the Registration of Real Estate under Actual Titleholder’s Name by purchasing land under a nominee arrangement in 2013.
Choi filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the penalty, but the Supreme Court did not rule in her favor in November last year.
Choi’s representatives told the Seongnam government on Monday that she intended to make a “partial payment.” A Seongnam official said the city has already seized real estate assets worth far more than the unpaid penalties.
“We will check if any payment has been made by this afternoon and then decide whether to proceed with the public auction,” the official said.
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 HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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