▲ Myung Tae-kyun appears at the special prosecutor’s office investigating Kim Kun-hee in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 1st in connection with bribery charges.
Myung Tae-kyun, known as a ‘political broker,’ appeared for the second day to the special prosecutor’s team led by Min Joong-ki, which is investigating allegations related to First Lady Kim Kun-hee.
Mr. Myung appeared at the office of the special prosecutor’s team set up at the KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno-gu at 10:11 a.m. on the 1st as a suspect in bribery charges.
Upon his arrival, he told reporters, “The public is watching with great interest,” and expressed his intention to cooperate sincerely with the investigation.
On the previous day, Mr. Myung also appeared for questioning, which lasted around 13 hours and 30 minutes, including the time needed to review the protocol.
Mr. Myung is accused of conducting illegal polling 81 times during the 2022 20th presidential election for former President Yoon Seok-youl.
The allegation, referred to as the ‘nomination intervention suspicion,’ is based on claims that former President Yoon and his wife exercised influence so that former People’s Power Party member Kim received a nomination in the June 1 by-elections that year.
A recorded conversation revealed former President Yoon telling Mr. Myung before the People’s Power by-election nomination announcement on May 9, 2022, “Kim Young-sun has been working hard since the primaries, so try to help Kim Young-sun a bit, but there’s a lot of talk from the party. I’ll talk to Sang-hyun (Rep. Yoon) one more time since he is the chairman of the nomination committee.”
Mr. Myung is also implicated in the nomination intervention suspicion during the April 10 general elections last year.
This pertains to claims that First Lady Kim exerted effort to nominate former prosecutor Kim Sang-min for the election in the constituency of Changwon Uichang, Gyeongnam, which was the former constituency of Kim Young-sun.
At the time, Mr. Myung, who was supporting former lawmaker Kim, claimed he was told by the First Lady, “Support for Kim Sang-min to win in Changwon Uichang. If he is successful, you’ll be offered a ministerial position or a major role in a public company after the election.”
The special prosecutor’s team plans to further investigate Mr. Myung over the two days to pursue the nomination intervention suspicions before potentially narrowing the investigation towards the former President Yoon and his wife.
(Photo by Yonhap News)