Wife of ousted president Yoon, and ally, indicted by special prosecutors

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Wife of ousted president Yoon, and ally, indicted by special prosecutors

2025-08-29 16:26 Last Updated At：16:30

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The wife of South Korea's jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol and his former prime minister were indicted Friday as part of investigations into his administration and his attempt to overcome opposition by declaring martial law.

Yoon set off South Korea’s most serious political crisis in decades when he attempted to overcome an opposition-dominated legislature that blocked his agenda by abruptly declaring martial law. His decree lasted only hours but triggered months of turmoil that paralyzed politics, disrupted foreign policy and rattled the economy.

Yoon was impeached, then removed from office in April and rearrested last month after his conservative party lost a special election to choose his successor. The new government has appointed three special prosecutors to investigate both the period of martial law and suspicions of corruption that dogged Yoon through his term in office.

A team led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki said it charged Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, with violating financial market and political funding laws and receiving bribes, about two weeks after she was arrested.

A separate team led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk said former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was charged with abetting Yoon’s imposition of martial law, which investigators say amounted to a rebellion, as well as falsifying and destroying official documents, and lying under oath.

Dozens of people have been arrested or investigated over Yoon’s martial law debacle, corruption allegations involving his wife, and other controversies from his three years in office, including an alleged cover-up of a marine’s drowning death during a 2023 flood rescue operation.

Key suspects include former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of planning martial law with Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly in an unsuccessful attempt to block lawmakers from voting to lift it. More than 60 people were separately indicted for rioting at a Seoul court which issued the warrant for Yoon’s first arrest in January.

Assistant special prosecutor Park Ji-young told a televised briefing that Han was the highest official who could have blocked Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law. Park said Han still played an “active” role in Yoon’s martial law declaration by trying to get Yoon’s decree passed through a Cabinet Council meeting as a way to give “procedural legitimacy” to it.

Han has maintained he conveyed to Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan.

Cho’s team earlier requested the Seoul Central District Court to issue a warrant to arrest Han. But the court on Wednesday dismissed that request, saying it determined that there were little chances that Han would flee or destroy evidence.

While Yoon’s self-inflicted downfall extended a long streak of South Korean presidencies ending badly, Kim is the first former first lady to be arrested and indicted.

Nearly every former South Korean president, or their family members and aides, have been mired in scandals near the end of their terms or after they left office.

The last two presidents elected from earlier iterations of Yoon's party – Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-back — were both sentenced to lengthy prison terms over corruption charges before being pardoned and released.

Yoon’s surprising but poorly-planned martial law imposition came amid an intense standoff with the liberals, but many critics have speculated Yoon's move was mainly likely an attempt to frustrate then an opposition-led push to open an independent investigation into his wife's allegations.

Kim and Yoon are suspected of exerting undue influence on the conservative People Power Party to nominate a favored candidate in a 2022 legislative by-election, allegedly at the request of election broker Myung Tae-kyun. Myung is accused of conducting free opinion surveys for Yoon that used manipulated data, possibly helping him win the party’s presidential primaries before his election as president in March 2022.

Before her arrest, Kim apologized for causing public concern but also hinted she would deny the allegations against her, portraying herself as “someone insignificant.”

In a statement released through her lawyers on Friday, Kim didn’t make specific comments about her charges, but said the media was reporting suspicions as though they were “confirmed fact” and that she plans to “quietly attend the trials.”

Han, who was appointed prime minister, the country’s No. 2 post, by Yoon, was South Korea’s acting leader after Yoon was impeached in mid-December.

After Yoon was formally dismissed as president in a Constitutional Court decision, Han was supposed to continue to head the caretaker government until the June presidential election, but resigned to run for the election. He withdrew from the race after failing to win the People Power Party's nomination.

Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.

Presidents have invoked the law more than two dozen times, most recently in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to end unrest in Los Angeles. In that instance, local authorities had asked for the assistance.

“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said on X.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would challenge any such action in court. He's already suing to try to stop the surge by the Department of Homeland Security, which says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29 as part of an immigration operation in the Twin Cities called Metro Surge.

The operation grew when ICE sent 2,000 officers and agents to the area early in January. ICE is a DHS agency.

In Minneapolis, smoke filled the streets Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd. Protesters responded by throwing rocks and shooting fireworks.

Demonstrations have become common in Minneapolis since Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7. Agents who have yanked people from their cars and homes have been confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave.

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three people who said they were questioned or detained in recent days. The lawsuit says two are Somali and one is Hispanic; all three are U.S. citizens. The lawsuit seeks an end to what the ACLU describes as a practice of racial profiling and warrantless arrests. The government did not immediately comment.

Homeland Security said in a statement that federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday stopped a driver from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally. The person drove off then crashed into a parked car before fleeing on foot, DHS said.

Officers caught up, then two other people arrived and the three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said. The confrontation took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) from where Good was killed.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was shot did not have a life-threatening injury. O’Hara's account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security, which later said the other two men were also in the U.S. illegally from Venezuela.

The FBI said several government vehicles were damaged and property inside was stolen when agents responded to the shooting. Photos show broken windows and insults made with paint. A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information. The FBI’s Minneapolis office did not immediately reply to messages seeking more details.

St. Paul Public Schools, with more than 30,000 students, said it would begin offering an online learning option for students who do not feel comfortable coming to school. Schools will be closed next week until Thursday to prepare for those accommodations.

Minneapolis Public Schools, which has a similar enrollment, is also offering temporary remote learning. The University of Minnesota will start a new term next week with different options depending on the class.

Madhani reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.