Daejeon High Prosecutor Kim Taehoon Criticizes Acquittal of Kim Keonhee in Deutsche Motors Case as "Unjust Verdict"

“Despite Acknowledging 2 Billion Won in Funds and Collusive Trading, Acquittal Issued”
Questions Raised Over Statute of Limitations Starting Point

Kim Taehoon, Chief Prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors’ Office, who initially investigated the alleged stock manipulation case involving Deutsche Motors, criticized the first-instance acquittal of First Lady Kim Keonhee as an “unjust verdict.”

On January 28, Kim posted a statement on the prosecution’s internal network, saying, “As a member of the first investigation team that prosecuted and detained the accomplices in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, I would like to express my opinion on this verdict.”

He stated, “The court acknowledged Kim Keonhee’s awareness of the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation, yet acquitted her of being a co-principal. This is unjust in light of existing judicial precedents and legal principles regarding joint criminal enterprise and the concept of a single, continuous crime.”

He continued, “In the verdicts for accomplices such as Kwon Osu, the court recognized that Kim Keonhee participated in multiple collusive trades and that the 2 billion won she provided to Black Pearl was used as stock manipulation funds. Nevertheless, denying her status as a co-principal contradicts established precedents, which hold that functional control over the crime through division of roles can constitute joint principal liability.”

He also argued, “For a single, continuous crime, even partial participation means the statute of limitations starts from the completion of the entire offense. However, separating the acts that occurred between October 2010 and January 2011 and ruling that the statute of limitations had expired goes against established legal principles.”

Kim Taehoon oversaw the first investigation into the Deutsche Motors case as the fourth deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office from 2021 to 2022. He was recently promoted to Chief Prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors’ Office and now leads the newly established Joint Investigation Headquarters on Government-Business Collusion.

Earlier that day, the 27th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Woo Inseong) sentenced Kim Keonhee to one year and eight months in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 12,815,000 won for violations of the Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act, and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery by mediation). However, she was acquitted of the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation and Myung Taegyun opinion poll-related charges, with only partial guilt recognized for the charge of receiving expensive goods from the Unification Church as bribery by mediation.