Yoon Family's 'Mother-in-law and Wife Trials and Investigations' Accelerate One After Another

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Alongside the accelerating investigation into the controversy surrounding Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's son, the investigation into Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's family is also suddenly progressing at lightning speed. The first trial for Yoon's mother-in-law, Choi, who has already been indicted for forgery of private documents, is set to begin next month. Some of the allegations involving not only Choi but also Yoon's wife Kim?including forgery of private documents, litigation fraud, and stock manipulation of Deutsche Motors?are approaching complainant investigations. As Minister Choo emphasized a "sanctuary-free investigation," attention is focused on how the related investigations will conclude.

According to the legal community on the 23rd, Choi's trial is tentatively scheduled for the 29th of next month. The case involves charges of forging a bank balance certificate to make it appear as if 34.7 billion KRW was deposited during the purchase of land in Dochon-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province in 2013. The case is being handled by Judge Yoon I-jin of the Criminal Division 8 at the Uijeongbu District Court.

Since the trial of former business partner Ahn, who faces the same charges, may proceed as a jury trial, Choi will remain with the single-judge panel and be tried separately. Recently, both the prosecution and Choi's side have submitted opinions regarding this.

Originally, this case was transferred from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office in March due to jurisdiction over the defendant's residence. After summoning and investigating Choi, the Uijeongbu office indicted her without detention on charges of forgery of private documents and then sent the remaining matters back to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

It is known that the remaining key suspects' jurisdiction lies with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which is why the case was sent back. However, there have been criticisms that the Seoul Central and Uijeongbu Prosecutors' Offices are "passing the buck" regarding the case involving the sitting Prosecutor General, causing delays in the investigation.

The case in which Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, filed a complaint against Yoon's wife Kim at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is also expected to gain momentum. On the 14th, during a National Assembly interpellation session, Minister Choo mentioned that "(the investigation) is undergoing reform amid criticism," and reiterated on the day before yesterday at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee that "we will look into it."

Moreover, the Criminal Division 6, which received this case at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, has decided to summon and investigate Jeong, who filed a complaint against Choi on charges including litigation fraud on the 25th. Since Jeong filed the complaint in February, this marks seven months since the filing, and as complainant investigations are the first gateway of the investigation, the prosecution is effectively beginning the investigation in earnest.

In particular, the Criminal Division 6 is also handling the case in which Choi was accused of violating the Capital Markets Act related to the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation allegations. The core of the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation suspicion is that Chairman Kwon Oh-soo of Deutsche Motors colluded with Lee, known as a "player" in the stock market, to manipulate stock prices, and Yoon's wife Kim allegedly provided the funds for the stock manipulation.

A former prosecutor turned lawyer commented, "Since all cases involving Yoon's wife Kim and mother-in-law Choi have been assigned to the Criminal Division 6, and some of the suspects overlap, the investigation has become easier. Formally, it appears that the minister is applying pressure to expedite both the trial and investigation, but for Prosecutor General Yoon, this could be an opportunity to clear the allegations before retirement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.