SEOUL: South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee and former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo were indicted Friday in special investigations that followed the ousting of the former president for imposing martial law.
The wife of jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol was charged with violating financial market and political funding laws and receiving bribes, about two weeks after a court ordered her arrest.
Han was charged with abetting Yoon’s imposition of martial law imposition, which investigators say amount to a rebellion, and also falsifying and destroying official documents and lying under oath.
Three special prosecutor investigations were launched under the government of liberal President Lee Jae Myung that targeted Yoon’s presidency and the actions taken to impose martial law last December.
Yoon’s defense minister, military commanders and police officers have been arrested for their involvement in imposing martial law.
Yoon was removed from office in April and rearrested last month over his December martial law decree.
Kim and Yoon are suspected of exerting undue influence on the conservative People Power Party to nominate a specific candidate in a 2022 legislative by-election, allegedly at the request of election broker Myung Tae-kyun. Myung faces accusations of conducting free opinion surveys for Yoon using manipulated data that possibly helped him win the party’s presidential primaries before his election as president.
Kim apologized for causing public concern earlier this month but also hinted she would deny the allegations against her, portraying herself as “someone insignificant.”
Assistant special counsel Park Ji-young told a televised briefing that Han was the highest official who could have blocked Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law. Park said Han still played an “active” role in Yoon’s martial law declaration by trying to get Yoon’s decree passed through a Cabinet Council meeting as a way to give “procedural legitimacy” to it.
Han has maintained he conveyed to Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan.
Han, who was appointed prime minister, the country’s No. 2 post, by Yoon, was South Korea’s acting leader after Yoon was impeached in mid-December.
After Yoon was formally dismissed as president in a Constitutional Court decision, Han was supposed to continue to head the caretaker government until the June presidential election. Han resigned to seek the presidential nomination instead, but Yoon’s conservative party chose someone else.
South Korea’s former first lady and former prime minister indicted by special prosecutors
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South Korea’s former first lady and former prime minister indicted by special prosecutors
- The wife of jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol was charged with violating financial market and political funding laws and receiving bribes
- Three special prosecutor investigations were launched under the government of liberal President Lee Jae Myung that targeted Yoon’s presidency
Indian PM calls deadly Delhi blast ‘conspiracy’
- Explosion in Delhi near Red Fort killed at least eight, wounded 19 on Monday evening
- Indian police official says investigating blast in capital under anti-terrorism laws
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called a deadly car explosion in the heart of the capital that killed at least eight people a “conspiracy,” vowing those responsible will face justice.
Police are yet to give exact details of what caused Monday’s blast near the historic Red Fort, one of India’s most well-known landmarks, and the site of the annual prime minister’s Independence Day speech.
It is the first significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.
“I assure everyone that the agencies will get to the bottom of the entire conspiracy,” Modi said, in a speech during a state visit to neighboring Bhutan, without giving further details.
“All those involved will be brought to justice.”
At least 19 people were also wounded when flames ripped through several vehicles. Crime scene investigators scoured through the wreckage early on Tuesday.
The explosion on Monday came hours after Indian police said they had arrested a gang and seized explosive materials and assault rifles.
Police said the men were linked with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group that India says is based in Pakistan, and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a Kashmir offshoot of Al-Qaeda.
Both groups are listed as “terrorist” organizations in India.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, speaking at a conference in New Delhi, said that investigative agencies were “conducting a swift and thorough inquiry” and that the findings “will soon be made public.”
Singh, echoing Modi’s words, said “those responsible for this tragedy will be brought to justice, and will not be spared under any circumstances.”
Senior Delhi police officer Raja Banthia said they were investigating the blast in the crowded Old Delhi quarter of the city, under anti-terrorism laws.
New Delhi’s deputy chief fire officer AK Malik told AFP shortly after the explosion that eight people had been killed.
The Press Trust of India news agency reported on Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 12, although that figure has not been confirmed.
’PEOPLE WERE BURNING’
Witnesses described to AFP how the car exploded in traffic and how people caught up in the surge of flames were set on fire.
“I saw the car explode while it was moving,” said Dharmindra Dhaga, 27.
“People were on fire and we tried to save them... Cars and people were burning — people inside the cars were burning,” he said.
“I was telling the public to save them, rescue them, and get them out. The public was busy making videos and taking photos.”
The emergency ward at Delhi’s LNJP hospital was chaotic after the explosion as wounded people streamed in and doctors rushed to treat them.
A woman broke down outside the ward where her husband was being treated.
“I can’t bear to see him like that,” she said as her brother tried to console her.
New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing the gunmen after the April attack in Pahalgam, a claim denied by Islamabad.
That attack sparked clashes between the nuclear-armed arch rivals in May, when more than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery exchanges before a ceasefire was struck.
The last significant attack in the Indian capital was in September 2011, when a bomb hidden in a briefcase ripped through a crowd outside New Delhi’s High Court, killing at least 14 people.
