S. Korean ex-president Moon Jae-in indicted over alleged bribery

SEOUL -- South Korea's former president Moon Jae-in, serving as president between 2017 and 2022, was indicted by prosecutors over an alleged bribery charge, local media said Thursday.

According to the prosecution, Moon's former son-in-law, surnamed Seo, had worked for a budget carrier, Thai Eastar Jet, between August 2018 and March 2020 and had been paid about 150 million won ($104,600) in salary and 65 million won in residence benefits.

Former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik of the liberal Democratic Party was appointed as chief of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency before Seo's employment at the airline, established by the lawmaker.

Prosecutors saw the payment of Seo's salary and benefits as a bribe to the former president, who allegedly stopped providing financial support to his daughter's family, including the former son-in-law.

However, the prosecution suspended the indictment of Moon's daughter and former son-in-law.

It was rare for prosecutors to question salary for fair labor, even though there was no problem with Seo's recruitment process found yet.

Youn Kun-young, a Democratic Party lawmaker who worked in the presidential office for Moon, said that the former president described it as an "outrageous and absurd" indictment.

Moon was quoted as saying that it was a political revenge following the removal of former conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, a prosecutor-turned-politician, from office earlier this month.

On April 4, the constitutional court upheld a motion by the parliament to impeach Yoon over his short-lived martial law imposition last December.

With the court's decision, Yoon officially lost all presidential power, and a snap presidential election was scheduled for June 3.