The prosecution knuckles under power

The prosecution has decided not to indict First Lady Kim Keon Hee concerning her alleged involvement in a Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case, concluding that she was unaware of stock price manipulations. However, she entrusted those in charge of such activities with managing her accounts. As prosecutors also decided not to prosecute the case concerning her acceptance of a Dior bag 15 days ago on Oct. 2, they have been criticized for a lack of fairness.

As a financier surnamed Son, who was involved in the stock price manipulation activities and was convicted of assisting the crime in an appellate court, there has been growing consensus about Kim’s indictment. However, the prosecution said that the first lady is different from him, explaining that Son is a “professional investor” given that he was told by a large investor surnamed Kim, who was involved in manipulative trading, that he had control of Deutsch Motors stock prices, and purchased stocks on his own as per Kim’s request. By contrast, according to the prosecution, First Lady Kim made investments because she only believed former Deutsch Motors CEO Kwon Oh-soo as she lacked experience and knowledge of the stock market. Surprisingly, the Korea Exchange analyzed that the first lady and her mother garnered a trading profit of around 2.3 billion, while Son saw a more than 100 million loss. Who would buy it if the prosecution described her as a non-professional who has a low understanding of how stocks work?

The prosecution also confirmed that six accounts of the first lady were involved in the price manipulations including illegal stock trades for which the statute of limitations had already run out, but she entrusted some of them to Kwon and managed others on her own without knowing what was happening behind the scenes. It also said that no one involved in the case testified that she plotted the crime or was then aware of market manipulation activities. Despite Kim’s testimony that the First Lady was part of BP (which is presumed as Black Pearl Investments), the prosecution stated that this does not provide firm evidence that the First Lady was at the core of the crime, adding, “There was little chance that the first lady could notice that Kwon, the head of the company, controlled prices with a group of manipulators.” All such comments only make the prosecution sound like her lawyer.

Since investigations began, there has been endless controversy over the prosecution’s preferential treatment. Not until later in 2021 did Kim go through a documentary investigation although she was charged in April 2020. It was put aside for some time with the incumbent administration in power. This May, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office was abruptly replaced, arguably for maintaining that Kim should be summoned for investigations. In addition, the investigation team bypassed the Prosecutor General and investigated her in private at an annex building of the Presidential Security Service. Investigators did not even talk to the investigation review committee. They only decided not to indict her after four and a half years of investigations. After all, the prosecution succumbs to power.