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Kim Keon-hee, the wife of deposed former President Yoon Suk-yeol, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court for a pre-trial detention warrant review hearing on Aug. 12, 2025. (pool photo)

Investigators with the special counsel probe into corruption allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon-hee carried out multiple raids Wednesday as they seek to determine the facts regarding the relocation of the presidential residence during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and Unification Church support for the conservative People Power Party.

The team’s investigation of key allegations proceeded immediately after Kim was placed under arrest a day earlier. It planned to summon the detained former first lady for questioning for the first time on Thursday.

In contrast with her husband Yoon’s refusal to participate in special counsel probes or his own trial since being placed back under arrest, Kim agreed to appear for questioning with the special counsel team at 10 am on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the special counsel team conducted simultaneous search and seizure efforts on various individuals linked to the relocation of the official presidential residence and the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan area.

The team’s targets included the Seongdong District offices of 21 Gram — an interior design company that was hired for additional construction — and the residence of its president, Kim Tae-young.

21 Gram was previously sponsored by Kim’s company, Covana Contents. Its selection to carry out construction on the presidential residence despite not having a license for extension building and structural reinforcement work raised allegations of cronyism.

The special counsel’s team also carried out a raid on the home of Kim Oh-jin, who served as the first vice minister of land, infrastructure and transport during Yoon’s administration. 

After the Yoon administration took office in 2022, Kim was appointed as management secretary for the presidential office, where he oversaw the relocation of the presidential office and presidential residence. In June 2023, he was transferred to the post of first vice minister of land, infrastructure and transport.

Additionally, the team conducted a search and seizure on the Board of Audit and Inspection’s public administration and security audit bureau, where it obtained a report on the results of an audit on renovations to the presidential residence. During the Yoon administration, the board carried out an audit on the relocation of the presidential residence, which found no problems with the planned effort.

The team also attempted a search and seizure on the central offices of the People Power Party in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood to investigate allegations that large numbers of Unification Church members joined the party ahead of its March 2023 convention. According to sources, it executed its search and seizure warrant by verifying a list of suspected Unification Church members who joined the party.

The move raised an outcry from the party’s interim leader, Song Eon-seog, who contended that the administration of President Lee Jae Myung had “used its special counsel lapdogs to turn the situation around after facing a political crisis over its pardoning of heinous criminals.”

Meanwhile, a statement submitted to the team by Seohee Group CEO Lee Bong-kwan was confirmed Wednesday to indicate that Kim Keon-hee was given a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace valued at 60 million won  (US$43,360) in March 2022 as a “congratulatory gift” following Yoon’s election, with the delivery taking place at a restaurant in the basement of the Acrovista apartments where Yoon and Kim reside in Seoul’s Seocho neighborhood. The businessman also stated that he met Kim again the following April and gave her a brooch valued at 30 million won and earrings valued at 20 million won.

Lee Bong-kwan further acknowledged that during the April 2022 meeting, he requested the hiring of his son-in-law, the attorney Park Seung-keun.

The statement also indicated that the Seohee Group CEO received the necklace back between late 2023 and early 2024, a period coinciding with the November 2023 revelation of video footage showing pastor Choi Jae-young giving Kim Keon-hee a Dior handbag.

He further quoted Kim as having told him at the time that she had “put [the gift] to good use.”

By Kwak Jin-san, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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