South Korea's first lady Kim Gun-hee has been questioned by prosecutors for 12 hours on charges of bribery

South Korean prosecutors have summoned First Lady Kim Gun-hee for a closed-door investigation into allegations she manipulated stock prices and accepted designer handbags.

Yonhap news Agency reported that the anti-corruption search department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said Sunday (July 21) that it summoned Kim Gun-hee the previous day for a closed investigation on her alleged manipulation of Deutsche Motor stock prices and violation of the anti-graft law by accepting designer bags. This is the first time South Korean prosecutors summoned Kim Gun-hee for investigation.

According to the prosecution, after consultation, the two sides decided to conduct the investigation at a third venue outside the prosecutors' building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, for security and safety reasons. The report said that the prosecution may also have taken into account the position that Kim Gun-hee has always insisted that the prosecution summons investigation is inappropriate.

Prosecutors said the investigation took about 12 hours from 1:30 p.m. on Saturday to 1:20 a.m. on Sunday. Prosecutors have sent a letter of inquiry to Kim in advance, and they mainly asked for details during the investigation.

According to reports, Jin Jianxi and her family are suspected of participating in the manipulation of the stock price of Deutsche Motor, a BMW dealer in South Korea, from 2009 to 2012, and were reported in April 2020. Under the previous administration, prosecutors sent two questioning letters in December 2021 and last year, but Kim's defense was insufficient.

Kim is also accused of receiving a designer bag worth 3 million won from Choi Jae-young, a pastor in the United States, in September 2022. Prosecutors set up a task force in May to launch a comprehensive investigation into the case.