For the first time in a quarter-century of independent prosecutions, a sitting South Korean lawmaker has been arrested amid a corruption scandal that has shaken the nation’s political and religious establishments to their core.
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Kweon Seong-dong – a towering figure in the conservative People Power Party and a close confidant of impeached former president Yoon Suk-yeol – has been detained on charges of accepting illicit funds from the Unification Church.
Kweon, a five-term lawmaker and former floor leader, was taken into custody on Tuesday after the Seoul Central District Court granted an arrest warrant, citing concerns over the possible destruction of evidence.
His detention is being hailed as a major victory for the independent special prosecutor tasked with unravelling the complex web of scandals engulfing Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon-hee.
Never before, since the inception of South Korea’s system of special prosecutors in 1999, has a sitting member of parliament been arrested under such circumstances.
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