South Korean court orders arrest of wife of jailed ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol         

A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of the wife of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol as investigators seek to charge her over various suspected crimes, including bribery, stock manipulation and meddling in the selection of a candidate.

In granting a special prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant near midnight, the Seoul Central District Court said Kim Keon Hee poses a risk of destroying evidence.

The investigation into Kim is one of three special prosecutor probes launched under Seoul's new liberal government targeting the presidency of Yoon, a conservative who was removed from office in April and rearrested last month over his brief imposition of martial law in December.

While Yoon's self-inflicted downfall extended a decades-long run of South Korean presidencies ending badly, he and Kim are the first presidential couple to be simultaneously arrested over criminal allegations.

Yoon's surprising yet poorly planned power grab on December 3 came amid a seemingly routine standoff with the liberals, who he described as “anti-state” forces abusing their legislative majority to block his agenda. Some political opponents have questioned whether Yoon's actions were at least partly motivated by growing allegations against his wife, which hurt his approval ratings and gave political ammunition to his rivals.

Kim did not speak to reporters as she arrived at the Seoul court on Tuesday for an hours-long hearing on the warrant request. She will be held at a detention centre in southern Seoul, separate from the facility holding Yoon.

The investigation team led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki, who was appointed in June by new liberal President Lee Jae Myung, questioned Kim for about seven hours on Wednesday last week before deciding to seek her arrest.

Kim spoke briefly to reporters as she appeared for last week's questioning, issuing a vague apology for causing public concern but also hinting that she would deny the allegations against her, portraying herself as “someone insignificant”.

Investigators suspect that Kim and Yoon exerted 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 is separately linked to multiple corruption allegations, including claims that she received luxury gifts via a fortuneteller acting as an intermediary for a Unification Church official seeking business favours, and possible involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme tied to a local BMW dealership company.

While in office, Yoon repeatedly dismissed calls to investigate his wife, denouncing them as baseless political attacks.