Former President Yoon Suk-yeol acknowledged during his trial on charges of spreading false information related to Buddhist monk Jeon Seong-bae, known as "Geonjin Beopsa," that he had visited Jeon's home together with his wife, Kim Keon-hee.
Yoon made the remarks at the second hearing of his Public Official Election Act violation case held Monday at the Seoul Central District Court's 21st Criminal Division, presided over by Chief Judge Cho Sun-pyo.
Yoon directly answered the court's questions regarding the charges. The court first asked whether he acknowledged that "he came to know Jeon through his wife Kim's introduction, met him several times before serving as Prosecutor General, and met Jeon together with Kim at the Kovana Contents office after announcing his presidential bid." Yoon responded, "I have questions about the number of meetings the special counsel presented, but it is true that I met Jeon together with my wife," adding, "I did visit what was described as Jeon's home together with my wife."
When the court asked whether he had met Kim together at a Buddhist prayer hall, Yoon said, "That is also not clear, but I did visit what was described as Jeon's home with my wife, though I'm not sure whether it was during my time as head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office or as Prosecutor General." Yoon added, "I think Jeon and someone who appeared to be a political figure he brought along came to my home once," and said, "I don't recall meeting at the Kovana Contents office."
Yoon reacted with visible agitation when the special counsel team led by Min Jung-ki presented the first-instance verdict on Jeon's influence-peddling charges as evidence and stated, "Jeon predicted former President Yoon's presidential bid and said he helped secure his election to fulfill that prediction. It is confirmed as fact that the relationship between Jeon and the Yoon couple was more than a simple friendship."
Yoon fired back, "If Jeon claims he guided me to that point, did he also predict that he would be arrested and I would be impeached?" He continued, "Even before martial law, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office conducted a rigorous investigation and a probe into the Unification Church was underway — is he saying he knew this would be his fate? Didn't the special counsel ask him that?"
The court told Yoon to "calm down," but he continued, saying, "The charges are not even properly specified — we should be calling reporters as witnesses to examine under what circumstances and how questions were asked, yet we can't even conduct a proper evidence review." He added, "If you're going to hold a trial on election law violations of a former president in a Korean courtroom, the discussion should be dignified. Are you really citing a shaman's prediction?" He then asked, "Then why couldn't he foresee this situation?"
The court accepted Jeon as a witness and scheduled witness examination for the hearing on the 20th of this month.
Yoon faces charges of publicly stating false information during media interviews while he was the People Power Party's presidential candidate. On January 17, 2022, in an interview at the Buddhist Leaders Forum launch ceremony, Yoon had stated to the effect that "I was introduced to Jeon, but I never met him together with my wife." The special counsel team led by Min Jung-ki determined that this statement contradicted the facts.
Yoon also faces charges of making false statements at a Kwanhun Club-hosted debate on December 14, 2021, when he denied having introduced a defense attorney to Yoon Woo-jin, the former head of the Yongsan Tax Office and the brother of a junior prosecutor colleague, during his time as chief of the first investigation division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Central Investigation Bureau in 2012.