S.Korean Prez's office rejects stock manipulation allegations involving first lady

Seoul, Feb 15 The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has again rejected stock manipulation allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee as the main opposition party stepped up its calls for a special prosecutor investigation.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has vowed to push for a special probe into the first lady after a court last week acquitted financiers in the stock manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The DP has long accused Kim of playing the role of a financier and having her stock account managed and used in the manipulation, Yonhap news agency reported.

But the court's acquittal of the financiers makes it unnecessary to look into related suspicions related to the first lady for dealings covered between December 2009 and September 2010, a period where the statute of the limitations has expired.

The DP, however, has maintained the first lady is also suspected of profiting through dealings of Deutsch Motors stocks between October 2010 and January 2011, a period for which the court did not fully acknowledge the expiration of the statute of limitations.

"Just because the bank account was used, it cannot be regarded as taking part in stock price manipulation," the presidential office said in a statement to the press.

"In the course of the investigation and trial, dozens of people were subject to intense investigation, but not a single person testified to communicating or conspiring with first lady Kim Keon Hee over stock price manipulation," it said.

The presidential office especially pointed to the part of the ruling that acquitted a major investor despite records that he traded in the stocks at a much larger scale and with greater frequency than the first lady.

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According to the presidential office's own analysis, the investor in question traded 455 times in Deutsch Motors shares between October 2010 and August 2012, but was found innocent by the court.