Kim Keon Hee to remain in detention as Supreme Court issues new arrest warrant

Kim Keon Hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, will continue to stand trial in detention after the Supreme Court issued a separate arrest warrant tied to allegations of selling government posts and favors — just four days before her existing detention was set to expire.

The Supreme Court's Second Division, presided over by Justice Oh Kyung-mi, held a closed-door detention hearing for Kim on Tuesday and issued the warrant that afternoon, citing the risk that she might destroy evidence or flee. The special prosecutor's team, led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, had submitted a request to the Supreme Court on Oct. 15, asking it to exercise its authority to issue a new warrant as Kim's detention period neared its end.

Kim is currently being tried in detention on charges stemming from what prosecutors have called the "three major allegations" — stock price manipulation at Deutsch Motors, receipt of gifts from the Unification Church, and the free receipt of polling services from political operative Myung Tae-kyun. Those cases are before the Supreme Court's full bench. She received a four-year prison sentence at the appellate level, and after the Supreme Court referred the cases to the full bench in July, no ruling has yet been issued. Her detention in connection with those three cases expires Saturday.

The separate case for which the new warrant was issued involves allegations that Kim accepted expensive gifts from business figures in exchange for using her influence over personnel appointments, political candidacy endorsements and business favors. A trial court sentenced her to seven years in prison, while an appellate court acquitted her on some counts and reduced the sentence to five years. Both Kim's legal team and the special prosecutors appealed, sending the case to the Supreme Court; the division and presiding justice assigned to hear it were determined Thursday.

With Tuesday's warrant, Kim will remain in detention for up to eight more months regardless of the outcome in her other cases. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the maximum detention period at the trial court level is six months, while the maximum at each appellate stage — both the second and third instance — is eight months.