Yoon and his wife to face each other in court for the first time today... Kim Keon Hee to testify at Yoon Suk Yeol’s trial

If Kim appears in court as scheduled, it will be the first time in about nine months that she and the former president meet in a courtroom since Yoon was detained by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok’s special counsel team investigating insurrection charges in July last year.

Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Lee Jin-gwan, will on the 14th hold a continued hearing in Yoon’s case on charges of violating the Political Funds Act and conduct a witness examination of Kim.

At the first hearing held on the 17th of last month, Yoon’s side argued that if Kim appeared in court as a witness, she would refuse to testify. The court, however, ruled that "even if she refuses to testify, she must still be given the opportunity to be questioned" and approved her as a witness.

Kim is awaiting the appellate ruling in a related case arising from the same incident. If she invokes her right to refuse to testify on the grounds that her testimony could affect her own trial, it is expected to be difficult to carry out a full witness examination.

Kim’s legal team confirmed that she plans to appear as a witness on that day, but did not give a clear answer on whether she would exercise her right to refuse to testify.

The previous day, Kim also appeared as a witness in the trial of former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who faces charges of performing important duties in connection with insurrection. However, she largely refused to testify regarding allegations that an investigation involving her had been quashed.

The former presidential couple have previously appeared at the Seoul Central District Court on the same day for different cases, but this will be the first time they face each other in the same courtroom.

Earlier, on November 7 last year and again on the 17th of last month, the two appeared in different courtrooms as defendants in separate cases.

At that time, officials at the Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is being held, and the Seoul Southern Detention Center, where Kim is detained, coordinated their movements in advance to ensure their routes inside the court building did not overlap, so there was no chance they would run into each other at court.

Yoon is accused of colluding with Kim between April 2021 and March 2022 to receive a total of 58 opinion polls worth about 270 million won from Myung free of charge. Myung has been charged with providing illegal opinion polling.

Special Prosecutor Min Jung-gi’s team, which investigated the case, believes that in return for receiving the poll results, the former presidential couple used their influence to help former People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Yeongseon Kim and others secure party nominations in the June 1, 2022 South Korean National Assembly by-elections.

Kim was also indicted in connection with the same case, but the court of first instance acquitted her of those charges.

In the first trial, Kim was found guilty only on part of the brokerage bribery charges related to receiving money and valuables in connection with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church), and was sentenced to one year and two months in prison. Her appeal is currently being heard by the Seoul High Court, with a ruling scheduled for the 28th.