South Korean president’s mother-in-law arrested in forgery case

ISTANBUL

Police arrested on Friday the mother-in-law of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol over charges of forgery, local media reported.

The arrest of Choi Eun-soon, 76, comes after an appeals court, citing “gravity of the crime,” upheld her one-year sentence for “forging a financial document used in a land purchase deal” dating back to 2013, Seoul-based Yonhap News said.

Choi had appealed against the sentence at the appellate court in Uijeongbu, 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) northeast of Seoul.

However, the appeals court confirmed that the president’s mother-in-law had produced “fake bank balance” sheet to buy land in Seongnam in southern Seoul between April to October in 2013.

The fake documents suggested Choi deposited 34.7 billion won ($27 million) into the bank account.

Choi claimed innocence.

She was sentenced to one year in prison in December 2021 by a lower court in the same city, in the same case. However, she was not arrested at that time.

Choi was in the past also accused of taking state insurance benefits for running an unregistered healthcare hospital for elderly people.

After being sentenced to three years in prison, she was later acquitted of charges by Seoul High Court last year.