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First lady Kim Keon-hee attends a luncheon with Korean expatriates in Japan held at a hotel in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

In response to news that prosecutors discreetly questioned first lady Kim Keon-hee at an offsite location, opposition lawmakers launched a torrent of criticism on Monday claiming that it was the first lady who summoned the prosecutors to her, rather than them summoning her.
 
The Democratic Party is zeroing in on what they say was an “inappropriate” location for questioning. 

“In what world does a suspect have prosecutors at his or her beck and call? Since when have prosecutors provided call-out services?” asked Democratic Party Supreme Council member Jung Chung-rae in a meeting of party leaders on Monday morning. “It’s hard to say whether the prosecutors actually questioned Kim or whether the first lady took it upon herself to inquire into how prosecutors conduct investigations.”
 
Kim Yong-min, also a Democrat, uploaded a post on Facebook saying, “The prosecutors didn’t summon Kim Keon-hee, the suspect. Kim summoned the prosecution. This is exactly why we need an independent special counsel to investigate.”
 
In an appearance on a CBS news program, Democratic lawmaker Park Jie-won said, “Kim was not subject to a proper investigation by prosecutors. Kim summoned the prosecutors to the Presidential Security Service’s annex and pretended to be questioned. This demonstrates the collapse of the prosecution service and the fact that the prosecutor general was also bypassed shows how a national institution is failing.”
 
“This only showed me why the public is calling so passionately for a special independent counsel probe. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the prosecution service, and the People Power Party become powerless in the face of Kim,” Park added. 

“If the facts of the case aren’t revealed through a special counsel probe, the country will be brought to ruin. Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee won’t be able to emerge unscathed, so the rationale behind a special counsel probe has been quite eloquently proven correct,” the lawmaker went on. 
 
Democrat Back Hye-ryun also appeared on a KBS Radio current affairs program and commented, “The prosecutors made it seem as if the investigation had taken place in a location connected to the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office, but as it turns out, the questioning took place at the Presidential Security Service’s annex. Kim was basically investigated somewhere akin to her residence. It’s a place that prosecutors get nervous about entering. The choice of such a location for questioning demonstrates that the prosecutors didn’t have the heart to conduct a proper investigation.
 
Lee Sung-yoon also commented in an interview conducted by Kim Ou-joon on his current affairs YouTube show, “Modesty is Nothing,” that “if you step foot into the prosecutors’ office, the place manipulates you psychologically and intimidates you, but the Presidential Security Service’s annex is an office that Kim frequents. The location was chosen so that Kim could feel calm and comfortable while being questioned.”
 
Some have criticized the investigation for being wishy-washy in that prosecutors didn’t conduct a confrontation by sitting Kim down next to other suspects and accusers for simultaneous questioning. 

Appearing on “Kim Jong-bae’s Attention,” an MBC radio program, lawmaker Kim Seung-won stated that the “most important issue” with the questioning was that Kim Keon-hee wasn’t made to confront her accusers and other key figures in the cases in which she has been implicated.

“The investigation merely involved the prosecutors jotting down everything the first lady said,” he said. “Pastor Choi Jae-young, who gave Kim the luxury handbag should’ve been summoned in for a confrontation, as well as Kwon Oh-soo, the former chairperson of Deutsch Motors, and Lee Jong-ho, former head of Black Pearl Invest, along with other key conspirators. Instead, prosecutors seem to have just called it good with a single round of questioning.” 

The Rebuilding Korea Party has also been vocal in its criticism. In the first meeting of party leaders that he chaired since his appointment as party leader, Cho Kuk stated, “The prosecutors have, in the past, summoned former Presidents Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye, and Roh Moo-hyun to the prosecutors’ office. Since when have South Korea’s prosecutors been so servile to suspects? Hearing this news made me sure that there is one true ‘VIP’ of South Korea.”
 
“This sort of thing goes beyond ‘questioning the queen’ to ‘questioning the empress.’ Is Kim Keon-hee Korea’s version of Empress Wu Zhao?” he asked.

“The people have already made the decision in their hearts to impeach,” he continued.

“My first responsibility as an opposition party leader is to attune my frequency to this anger in the public’s hearts,” he said.

Floor leader Hwang Un-ha said, “I did predict this kind of scenario from the prosecutors, but the way they went about it was so obvious. The prosecutors’ questioning of Kim Keon-hee was not a summons for questioning but a ‘house call’ for questioning.”

He went on to stress, “It’s time for the prosecutors to be shut down. The only way for the nation to be healthy again is through an operation to remove them.”

By Ko Han-sol, staff reporter

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