Former President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee were reunited in court for the first time in nine months. Kim appeared as a witness in Yoon's trial over allegations of receiving free polling services from Myung Tae-kyun, marking their first courtroom encounter 279 days after Yoon was re-detained on July 10 last year.
At the trial held on Wednesday at the Seoul Central District Court's 33rd Criminal Division presided over by Judge Lee Jin-kwan, Kim entered the courtroom with correctional officers holding both her arms. Yoon, dressed in a black suit without a tie, kept his eyes fixed on his wife for approximately 30 minutes as she stood at the witness stand and completed her oath, pledging to "tell the truth without concealment or addition according to my conscience."
The special prosecution team pressed Kim intensively, starting with how she first met Myung, but Kim repeatedly refused to testify while maintaining an expressionless face. The prosecution displayed on the courtroom screen a message in which Yoon responded to polling results received from Myung with a "cherry thumbs-up" emoji and asked, "Have you ever seen your husband use this emoji?" Kim remained silent.
The special prosecution team focused on allegations that Myung conducted presidential election polls multiple times and provided the results for free in exchange for securing a party nomination for former lawmaker Kim Young-sun. However, Kim Keon-hee avoided specific comments, consistently responding only that she "would refuse to testify."
After the approximately 30-minute questioning ended and Kim left the courtroom escorted by correctional officers, Yoon looked at his defense counsel and briefly smiled.
Kim had also appeared as a witness the previous day at the trial of former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae on charges of participating in key duties related to insurrection but refused most testimony. While the presidential couple had previously appeared at the court on the same day for different cases, this was the first time they faced each other in the same courtroom. During previous court appearances, the Seoul Detention Center and Seoul Southern Detention Center had coordinated in advance to ensure their paths did not cross.
Yoon was indicted by special prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team on charges of conspiring with Kim to receive polling services worth 270 million won ($189,500) for free from Myung across 58 instances from April 2021 to March of the following year. The special prosecution team believes the couple exerted influence to help former lawmaker Kim secure a party nomination in return for the free polling services.
The court finalized the upcoming schedule after completing Kim's examination on Wednesday. On January 21, a documentary evidence review will be conducted, playing key recordings from audio files submitted by the special prosecution. A defendant examination will follow on February 12, after which a final argument hearing will be held to conclude the trial proceedings.
