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Kim Keon Hee's mother pays more than half of $1.7M fine, canceling public auction process

Published: 11 Feb. 2026, 13:00 Updated: 11 Feb. 2026, 18:14

Choi Eun-soon, former first lady Kim Keon Hee's mother, is seen in front of the offices of the special counsel team investigating Kim in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Nov. 4, 2025. [NEWS1]

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee’s mother, Choi Eun-soo, paid 1.3 billion won ($893,000) on Tuesday after the Seongnam city government began the public auction procedure for the real estate that she owned. Choi had been listed as the country’s No. 1 defaulter — with 2.5 billion won in overdue local administrative fines and penalties — last year.

The 1.3 million won is more than half of the unpaid amount. When more than half of the total penalty is paid, the auction process is canceled.

Choi paid the 1.3 billion won at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday through a virtual bank account, according to Gyeonggi's Seongnam on Wednesday. The payment came six days after a public auction notice was issued for the seized property.

She had been fined 2.5 billion won in 2020 for violating the Act on the Registration of Real Estate Under Actual Titleholder’s Name. After failing to pay the fine, she ranked as the country’s No. 1 defaulter in overdue local administrative fines and penalties in a list released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety last November.

The fine was imposed after it was revealed that Choi had acquired land in Seongnam in 2013 under a borrowed name through a trust agreement.

Choi filed a lawsuit, seeking to cancel the fine, but the Supreme Court finalized the penalty that same November.

Choi Eun-soon, former first lady Kim Keon Hee's mother, is seen at the offices of the special counsel team investigating Kim in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Nov. 4, 2025. [JANG JIN-YOUNG]

Seongnam requested the Korea Asset Management Corporation to initiate a public auction of Choi’s property on Dec. 16, 2025, after she failed to pay the fine for an extended period of time.

The Korea Asset Management Corporation announced the auction through its electronic bidding system on Feb. 4. The property includes a building and land at 502-22 Amsa-dong, Gangdong District, eastern Seoul.

The building has a total floor area of 1,249 square meters (13,440 square feet), and the land area measures 368 square meters. Choi is known to have purchased the property for 4.3 billion won in November 2016.

The appraised value of the property is over 8 billion won. The bidding period was set from March 30 to April 1.

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, center, is seen during the final hearing on charges of violating the capital markets act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 3, 2025. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Choi expressed her intent to make installment payments on Tuesday morning and paid 1.3 billion won later that afternoon, according to Seongnam. Including the 20 million won paid on Jan. 22, the total amount paid by Choi now stands at 1.32 billion won.

“Since the payment exceeds half of the total fine, the city plans to request the cancellation of the auction from the Korea Asset Management Corporation by Wednesday,” a city official said.

“Choi said the remaining balance would be discussed in person,” the official added. “If the outstanding amount is not fully paid within a certain period, we may reopen the auction procedure for the seized property.”

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 CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]