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President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee attend a banquet for Korean compatriots in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 11. (Yonhap)

Prosecutors have resumed an investigation into allegations of stock price manipulation at Deutsch Motors, roughly a year after the probe had cooled. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, is suspected of being involved in the case.

The case has been picked back up after the arrest and appeal for an arrest warrant of a 52-year-old surnamed Min 52, who is known to have had a hand in the so-called “Kim Keon-hee file,” which summarized the transaction of the first lady’s securities account.

Prosecutors have been accused of leniency in cases regarding current figures in power, and now find themselves in a situation in which they must decide on what stance to take. However, the team running the probe is still showing a passive attitude toward directly investigating the first lady herself.

The second anti-corruption division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (SCDPO), under the supervision of Kim Yeong-cheol, requested an arrest warrant for Min, who is suspected of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, on Thursday. Seoul Central District Court Judge Kim Se-yong of the court’s warrant division issued the warrant on Thursday afternoon.

Min, who previously served as an executive of an investment management company, is suspected of boosting Deutsch Motors stock prices between December 2009 and December 2012 by conspiring with Kwon Oh-soo, former CEO of the auto company.

Min fled abroad when the investigation began last year. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the first investigation team in this case took measures such as invalidating Min’s passport and placing a red notice with Interpol.

When Min expressed his intentions of returning to the country voluntarily one year later, he was arrested by the prosecution at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday.

Min is known to have been involved in authoring the so-called Kim Keon-hee file. In September 2021, the prosecution discovered a laptop computer containing a spreadsheet named “Kim Keon-hee” when it raided the company Min worked for. The file is said to contain the details of Kim’s security account transactions and the number of stocks she owned.

The company Min worked for has been pointed out as having allegedly played a key role in a second round of Deutsch Motors stock price manipulation, which took place after October 2010. Prosecutors suspect that the company managed the first lady’s account.

Through two of Kim’s accounts, which are mentioned in the file under her name, the CEO of that company (currently under arrest and indictment) purchased 490,000 shares —1.84 billion won, or US$1.4 million, worth of Deutsch Motor shares — between October 2010 and January 2011.

Min is the CEO’s brother-in-law and is known to have played a practical role in the stock price manipulation by acting as a liaison.

Prosecutors first intend to focus on proving Min’s alleged involvement in the stock price manipulation case, where he is identified as an accomplice of Kwon Oh-soo, the former CEO. Even if the allegations that Min was involved in authoring the Kim Keon-hee file and managing Kim’s account prove to be true, whether Kim was involved in the manipulation herself is thought to be a different problem.

Some in the legal community predict that Min’s investigation will be nothing more than one made to keep up a facade of equality. A prosecutor-turned-lawyer commented that “they’ve now got enough evidence to show that they are ‘working hard’ while only continuing to investigate issues that are not directly connected to Kim.”

There has been criticism that the entire SCDPO’s special investigation headquarters as well as its second anti-corruption division investigating the case involving Kim has forfeited the bare minimum balance it should maintain in its execution of power as the prosecution by focusing mainly on cases that have to do with the Democratic Party.

By Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter

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