South Korea: Special counsel indicts ex-President Yoon over free opinion polls

Seoul, Dec 24 (IANS) A special counsel team indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday on charges of receiving dozens of opinion poll results for free in violation of the Political Funds Act.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team announced the indictment in a notice to the press, saying it also indicted Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, on charges of providing the opinion polls to Yoon.

Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, have been accused of receiving the results of 58 opinion polls worth 270 million won (US$186,000) between June 2021 and March 2022, when Yoon won the presidential election, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim has already been indicted on the same charge and is set to receive the court's verdict on January 28.

The special counsel team had investigated suspicions that the free opinion polls were in exchange for the presidential couple's help with securing candidate nominations for the June 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

Those allegations were not listed in the indictment and will likely be transferred to the police for further investigation if a conclusion is not reached by the end of the team's term Sunday.

On December 20, Yoon Suk Yeol appeared before a special counsel team to undergo questioning as a suspect over corruption allegations linked to his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

It marked the jailed former president's first appearance before special counsel Min Joong-ki's team, which launched in July to investigate corruption and other allegations surrounding the ex-first lady.

Yoon is accused of being an accomplice to his wife when she allegedly received opinion polls worth 270 million won ($183,000) for free from a self-proclaimed power broker and when she allegedly accepted a painting worth 140 million won from a former prosecutor.

He is also suspected of violating the Public Official Election Act for allegedly speaking a falsehood about his wife during a 2021 debate when he was a presidential candidate.

Min's team is also looking into whether Yoon was involved in Kim's alleged acceptance of luxury gifts from others, including Lee Bae-yong, former head of the National Education Commission, in exchange for favors.

When asked by reporters about whether Yoon was aware of Kim's acceptance of luxury gifts, his lawyer said the former president was "completely unaware."