Kim Keon-hee Nears End of Detention; Supreme Court to Hear Additional Detention Warrant Request on 27th

Yonhap News Agency

The Supreme Court will hold a hearing on October 27 to decide whether to extend the detention of Kim Keon-hee, whose current detention period is nearing its end.

According to legal sources on October 22, the Supreme Court's Second Division, which is hearing the final appeal in the case involving allegations of selling government appointments against Kim, will hold a hearing on an arrest warrant at 2:30 p.m. on October 27. Justice Oh Kyung-mi is presiding over the case.

The hearing is scheduled to take place in Courtroom No. 1 at the Supreme Court. Kim is expected to participate by video from Seoul Nambu Detention Center, where she is currently being held, while the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki is expected to appear in person at the Supreme Court. The result could be announced as early as that evening.

On October 15, the special counsel team asked the Supreme Court to issue an additional detention warrant for Kim. She was indicted and detained in September 2025 in connection with three major allegations: stock price manipulation involving Deutsch Motors, opinion polls conducted by Myung Tae-gyun, and the receipt of money and valuables from the Unification Church. The detention warrant issued at the time expires on October 31.

The appeals court ruled on the three major allegations on April 28, but the Supreme Court postponed its ruling on the final appeal after referring the case to the full bench to review the allegations concerning opinion polls conducted by Myung. With a ruling before the end of the detention period expected to be difficult, the special counsel team asked the panel hearing the final appeal in the separate government-appointment case to issue an additional detention warrant to prevent her release.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's full bench held its second hearing on Kim's three major cases on October 22, three weeks after its first hearing on September 29.

Full-bench hearings are generally held on the third Thursday of each month, but the schedule can be changed or additional hearings set as needed. The hearing was attended by the Chief Justice and all Supreme Court justices except the head of the National Court Administration. With one seat on the Supreme Court vacant, 12 justices, including Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, took part.

The key issue is whether Myung, a political broker, conducted opinion polls or provided their results for Kim and her husband, and whether this constituted a prohibited donation of political funds under the Political Funds Act.

Kim is accused of conspiring with former President Yoon Suk Yeol to receive 58 opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won free of charge from Myung between June 2021 and March 2022. The first- and second-instance courts acquitted her of this charge.

The Supreme Court had initially scheduled its ruling on Kim's final appeal for July 16, 2026, but postponed it after the first-instance court found former President Yoon, who was indicted on the same charge, partially guilty, in contrast to its ruling in Kim's case. The day before the ruling was subsequently scheduled, the court referred the case to the full bench.

On October 7, the appeals court in Yoon's case overturned the first-instance ruling and acquitted him. It reasoned that a political-funds donation under the Political Funds Act requires a financial benefit, and that the political assistance gained from receiving opinion polls was difficult to quantify as a financial benefit and therefore did not fall under the Act's restrictions.

The Supreme Court's full bench is expected to review the appeals court's ruling in Yoon's case alongside the other issues and clarify the facts and legal principles related to the allegations concerning Myung's opinion polls.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.