Seoul, Sep 10: South Korea's former First lady Kim Keon Hee's trial on corruption charges will formally begin later this month, legal sources said Wednesday, following her indictment by special counsel Min Joong-ki late last month.

The Seoul Central District Court set September 24 as the date for the first hearing of the trial, after Kim, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, was indicted on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation on August 29.

Specifically, she is accused of providing funds for a stock manipulation scheme from 2009 to 2012, and receiving free opinion polls together with her husband from a self-proclaimed power broker ahead of the presidential election in 2022 in exchange for securing the nomination of former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun for a parliamentary by-election later that year.

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Additionally, she is suspected of receiving luxury gifts from the Unification Church through a shaman acquaintance in exchange for business favours in 2022.

She has been in custody since a court issued a warrant for her arrest on August 12.

Kim and her husband will become the first former presidential couple to stand trial under arrest simultaneously, as Yoon is also jailed and being tried on insurrection charges over his failed attempt to impose martial law in December, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on August 29, a special counsel team had indicted the former First Lady on charges of corruption and bribery, making her the first spouse of a former President to stand trial under custody.

(IANS/NS)

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