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'After all, they are a couple': Lawyer for former first couple recalls emotional meeting in court

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 19:53

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and First Lady Kim Keon Hee [YONHAP, JOINT PRESS CORPS]

"After all, they are a couple," says Yoo Jung-hwa, an attorney for former first couple Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon Hee, who shared behind-the-scenes accounts of Kim's tears after meeting her husband for the first time in nine months in court — Yoon as the defendant and Kim as witness.

“Kim Keon Hee cried a lot after the trial,” Yoo said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, describing the courtroom moment and what followed after the hearing.

The hearing took place at Seoul Central District Court, concerning allegations that public opinion surveys were conducted and provided to the former president for free in violation of election and political funding laws, linked to self-proclaimed political broker Myung Tae-kyun. Kim appeared as a witness, seated in the stand diagonally from Yoon in the defendant’s seat.

“It was a very heartbreaking and painful moment,” Yoo remarked.

Yoon, according to reports , fixed his gaze on Kim as she walked toward the witness stand, guided by a correctional officer, giving her a faint smile after she finished reading the witness oath and sat down.

Yoon continued to look at Kim for some time, while she mostly looked downward. Although Yoon occasionally looked toward the gallery or closed his eyes, he stared mainly at Kim as she answered questions, according to news outlets.

Kim Keon Hee enters the court on Dec. 3, 2025 in southern Seoul. [JOINT PRESS CORPS] 2

“After entering the courtroom, Kim glanced at the former president several times out of the corner of her eyes, and during the witness examination, I saw Kim getting emotional, with her nose turning red,” the lawyer said. “Her voice trembled slightly, but Kim ultimately held back tears and, in a quiet voice, expressed her intention to refuse testifying."

Yoo added that the emotional tension between the two felt “heavy,” to the point that even the attorneys found themselves taking deep breaths.

“The difficulty of suppressing emotions and maintaining composure until the end was even harder because I was seeing it unfold in person, and during the roughly 40 questions that followed, the sadness and sense of reunion between the two were fully felt,” Yoo said.

When the lawyer visited Kim on Wednesday, the day after the hearing, Kim told the attorney that she could not remember how she got back to the detention center and "cried so much" after returning.

"This is not to seek sympathy for anyone," Yoo said. "This is merely to set the record straight amid all the assumptions being spread through news stories."

“While I understand the nature of media to frame everything in black and white, it should not erase the simple fact that they are both people with emotions and that they are a couple,” she said. “This is what makes the harsh reality even more painful.”

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 JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]