South Korea’s former President Moon Jae-in has been indicted on bribery charges, prosecutors have said.
Moon, who led South Korea from 2017 to 2022 under the banner of the centre-left Democratic Party, is alleged to have appointed a former lawmaker to a government-funded nonprofit agency in exchange for his then son-in-law being employed at a Thailand-based airline, Jeonju District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement on Thursday.
Prosecutors allege that Moon appointed Lee Sang-jik to lead the SMEs and Startups Agency in return for his ex-son-in-law, surnamed Seo, being appointed executive director at Thai Eastar Jet, which was controlled by Lee at the time.
They allege that some 223 million won ($151,959) in salary and other benefits provided to Seo constituted a bribe to Moon.
The Democratic Party condemned the indictment as politically motivated and an abuse of prosecutorial power.
“So the salary paid to the son-in-law was a bribe to the president? Is this the best logic they could come up with after dragging the case out for four long years?” spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said in a statement.
Moon’s indictment adds him to a long list of former South Korean presidents who have found themselves in trouble with the law.
Moon’s successor, impeached ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol, is currently on trial on insurrection charges over his short-lived declaration of martial law last year.
Four other ex-South Korean leaders, including Moon’s immediate predecessors Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, have been given prison terms.
Moon’s political mentor, former President Roh Moo-hyun, took his own life in 2009 while under investigation for bribery.
While in office, Moon, a former human rights lawyer, pushed to expand social welfare and championed rapprochement with North Korea.
South Korea is set to hold a presidential election on June 3 to replace Yoon, whose impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court of Korea earlier this month.
