South Korea's ex-first lady indicted for bribery

The wife of jailed former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted Friday on charges including bribery, stock-market rigging, and accepting luxury gifts worth more than $50,000, a special prosecution team said.

Kim Keon Hee and her husband are in jail, with Yoon on trial for insurrection and other charges following his April ouster over a disastrous bid to impose martial law in December.

The 52-year-old ex-first lady has been investigated over an alleged stock manipulation scheme and for accepting gifts from the Unification Church, a sect widely seen as a cult.

Kim was formally indicted Friday on charges of capital markets violations, political funds violations, and bribery, prosecutors said in a statement.

She has been in custody since her arrest on August 12.

Prosecutors say Kim made more than 810 million won (US$ 580,000) through a stock-rigging scheme involving shares of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea.

She also allegedly accepted gifts worth around 80 million won, including a diamond necklace, from the Unification Church in return for favours.

The former first lady is also accused of colluding with her husband to receive free polling services worth some 270 million won from a political broker.

The prosecution "requested confiscation and preservation of approximately 1.03 billion won in criminal proceeds obtained by the defendant (Kim) through violations," the investigators said.

Her arrest marked a dramatic fall for the ex-first couple after Yoon's failed martial law bid, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament but was swiftly blocked by opposition lawmakers.

Kim apologised after the indictment, vowing to make "no excuses" as she goes to trial.

"Just as the moon shines brightest on the darkest night, I too will endure this time by holding on to my truth and heart," she said in a statement.

Special prosecutors on Friday also indicted former prime minister Han Duck-soo, a Yoon appointee, on charges including abetting insurrection and perjury.

Han, "as the authority to black martial law as the nation's highest constitutional institution," but "failed to uphold his constitutional duty", spokeswoman Park Ji-young said.

Han twice served as acting president after martial law before quitting to run in the snap election, where he lost Yoon's conservative People Power Party's nomination.

The presidency went to Lee Jae Myung of the centre-left Democratic Party, who won the election in early June.