‘Kim Geon-hee Lady Luxury Bag Delivery’ Choi Jae-young Su-shim Committee Meeting on 24th

Deliberation on Four Charges Including the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and Trespassing

The Prosecution Investigation Review Committee (PIRC) will hold a meeting on the 24th to deliberate whether to indict Pastor Choi Jaeyoung, who handed luxury bags and other items to First Lady Kim Geonhee.

Pastor Choi Jae-young, who secretly filmed a video while handing a luxury bag to First Lady Kim Geon-hee, appeared at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul on June 13 for questioning. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

According to the legal community on the 12th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office plans to hold a PIRC special committee meeting at 2 p.m. on the 24th.

The review will cover four charges against Pastor Choi: violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, defamation, obstruction of official duties by deception, and trespassing. According to PIRC regulations, Pastor Choi may appear in person on the day of the review to state his opinion or submit a written statement of up to 30 pages by the day before.

Since the prosecution has decided to make the final disposition regarding First Lady Kim after observing the PIRC's conclusion on Pastor Choi, it is expected that the investigation's conclusion on Kim will come out around the end of this month.

The prosecution considers it inappropriate to separate the disposition of First Lady Kim and Pastor Choi, who are in a co-conspirator relationship known as "daehyangbeom" (mutual offenders) because they exchanged money and goods. Therefore, they plan to wait for the PIRC's conclusion on Pastor Choi before issuing a joint final disposition.

Accordingly, Prosecutor General Lee Wonseok, whose term expires on the 15th, will retire without disposing of the case involving First Lady Kim during his tenure.

Earlier, on the 6th of this month, the PIRC reviewed whether to file charges against First Lady Kim for six allegations (violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, bribery, mediation of bribery, violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, abuse of authority, and evidence tampering) and unanimously recommended non-prosecution, reaching the same conclusion as the investigation team.

Therefore, it was expected that the case against First Lady Kim would be closed with a non-prosecution disposition this week before Prosecutor General Lee's term ended. Subsequently, on the 9th, the PIRC convening request separately filed by Pastor Choi was approved by the Prosecutors' Citizen Committee.