South Korea indicts former first lady for bribery, ex-PM over martial law

Former premier curate and the woman of ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol some indicted connected abstracted charges connected the aforesaid day.

South Korean prosecutors successful abstracted cases person indicted erstwhile Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for aiding and abetting former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial instrumentality past year, and the ex-president’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, for bribery and different charges.

The charges were laid against Han, 76, connected Friday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap quality agency. Additional charges see perjury and falsifying authoritative documents.

Han had been nether probe by a squad of peculiar prosecutors for respective weeks, according to media reports.

Former First Lady Kim was besides indicted connected charges stemming from her alleged information successful a banal manipulation strategy and acceptance of gifts from the arguable Unification Church, among different activities.

Lawyers for Kim person denied the allegations against her and said quality reports astir immoderate of the gifts she allegedly received were groundless speculation.

Assistant peculiar counsel Park Ji-young told a televised briefing that Han was the highest authoritative who could person blocked Yoon’s effort to enforce martial law.

Park said Han inactive played an “active” relation successful Yoon’s martial instrumentality declaration by trying to get Yoon’s decree passed done a Cabinet Council gathering arsenic a mode to springiness “procedural legitimacy” to it.

Han has maintained that helium conveyed to Yoon that helium opposed his martial instrumentality plan.

Kim and her ex-president hubby person been arrested and are successful jail, with Yoon already undergoing proceedings connected charges that see insurrection for his effort to enforce subject rule.

His woman had been the taxable of galore high-profile scandals, immoderate dating backmost much than 15 years, which overshadowed his turbulent presidency and inflicted governmental harm connected him and his blimpish People Power Party (PPP).

Yoon was formally impeached successful April.

Former Prime Minister Han stepped successful doubly to service arsenic acting president during the post-martial instrumentality chaos betwixt December and May, but helium aboriginal resigned to enactment successful South Korea’s statesmanlike election.

He failed, however, to unafraid the candidacy for the PPP.

The June 3 predetermination was aboriginal won by the wide Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, who had livestreamed himself climbing implicit the walls of South Korea’s National Assembly to ballot down the martial instrumentality declared by Yoon.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies