SEOUL — Former president Moon Jae-in of South Korea was indicted on a bribery charge Thursday, becoming the latest ex-leader to face a criminal trial in a country where subjecting former leaders to criminal investigations has become a recurring pattern.
Moon, who left office after his five-year term ended in 2022, faces the corruption charge in connection with the employment of his former son-in-law at a now-defunct small budget airline in Thailand, prosecutors said Thursday.
The former son-in-law, at the time married to Moon’s daughter, Da-hye, received around $150,000 in salary and housing allowances from the airline between 2018 and 2020, according to the district prosecutor’s office in Jeonju. (The couple later divorced.)
In their indictment, Jeonju prosecutors said they considered the money a bribe paid to Moon by Lee Sang-jik, a South Korean businessperson and former lawmaker who controlled the airline.
Lee made the son-in-law an executive there as a favor to Moon’s family although he was not qualified for the job, they said.
New York Times
