Seoul indicts another ex-leader

Former President Moon Jae-in of South Korea was indicted on a bribery charge yesterday, 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.

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Mr 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 yesterday.

The former son-in-law, at the time married to Mr Moon’s daughter, Da-hye, received 217 million won (around 5 million baht) in salary and housing allowances from the airline between 2018 and 2020, according to the district prosecutor's office in Jeonju, south of Seoul. (The couple later divorced.)

In their indictment, Jeonju prosecutors said they considered the money a bribe paid to Mr Moon by Lee Sang-jik, a South Korean businessperson and former lawmaker who controlled the airline. Mr Lee made the son-in-law an executive there as a favour to Mr Moon's family although he was not qualified for the job, they said.