South Korea: Yoon, the former president, is charged by a special counsel over free opinion surveys

South Korea: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was charged by a special counsel team on Wednesday for allegedly violating the Political Funds Act by accepting dozens of opinion survey findings for free.

In a news release, the team of special counsel Min Joong-ki announced the indictment and said it also charged self-described power broker Myung Tae-kyun with supplying Yoon with the opinion surveys.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Yoon and his spouse, Kim Keon Hee, are accused of obtaining the findings of 58 opinion surveys totaling 270 million won (US$186,000) between June 2021 and March 2022, the year Yoon was elected president.

Kim is scheduled to hear the court’s decision on January 28 after being charged with the same offense.

Suspicions that the free opinion surveys were being conducted in return for the presidential couple’s assistance in obtaining candidate nominations for the parliamentary by-elections scheduled for June 2022 had been looked into by the special counsel team.

If a resolution is not found before the end of the team’s term on Sunday, those accusations—which were not included in the indictment—will probably be turned over to the police for further investigation.

Yoon Suk Yeol was questioned as a suspect on December 20 by a special counsel team about charges of corruption involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

It was the detained former president’s first appearance before the team headed by special counsel Min Joong-ki, which was established in July to look into claims of corruption and other issues related to the former first lady.

Yoon is charged with being his wife’s accomplice after she reportedly took a painting from a former prosecutor valued at 140 million won and got opinion surveys worth 270 million won ($183,000) for free from a self-described power broker.

For reportedly lying about his wife in a 2021 discussion while running for president, he is also accused of breaking the Public Official Election Act.

Additionally, Min’s team is investigating if Yoon was engaged in Kim’s alleged acceptance of opulent gifts in return for favors from other people, including Lee Bae-yong, the former director of the National Education Commission.

When reporters questioned Yoon about whether he knew that Kim had accepted expensive presents, his attorney said that the former president was “completely unaware.”