Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Assigns Kim Gunhee 'False Credentials' Appeal Case to Criminal Division

The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office has assigned the case concerning allegations of false career entries by former President Yoon Sukyeol's wife, Kim Gunhee, to the criminal division in order to review the possibility of reopening the investigation.

Former President Yoon Sukyeol's wife, Kim Gunhee, is coming out after completing the pre-arrest detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 12th.

According to legal sources on the 23rd, the previous day, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office assigned to the criminal division the case in which the civic group Citizens' Action for Judicial Justice (Sasehaeng) appealed the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's decision not to indict Kim Gunhee. With the formal assignment of the case, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office is expected to review the appropriateness of the non-indictment decision after receiving the investigation records from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

Earlier, the Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kwon Sunghui) announced on the 19th that it had decided not to indict Kim Gunhee on charges of obstruction of work and habitual fraud in connection with allegations of using false credentials for a faculty appointment.

The charge of obstruction of work was not pursued because the statute of limitations (seven years) had already expired before the complaint was filed. As for the charge of habitual fraud, although part of the statute of limitations (ten years) had not yet expired, it was determined that there was no act of deception constituting the crime.

Sasehaeng, which filed the complaint in November 2021, objected to the prosecution's decision and submitted an appeal to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the 21st. Kim Hanmae, the head of Sasehaeng, stated, "We filed the appeal to urge a focused reinvestigation into the appointment of Kim Gunhee as a professor at Kookmin University, as the statute of limitations remains for about one more year, until August 2026."