According to the prosecution in Jeonju, Moon is said to have received 217 million won, equivalent to approximately 1.5 million Swedish kronor, in bribes in connection with enabling the employment of his son-in-law at an airline.
The son-in-law was appointed CEO of a Thai low-cost airline despite "lacking relevant experience or qualifications within the aviation industry", according to the prosecutors.
The airline in question, Thai eastar jet, was controlled by a former parliamentarian from Moon's party, and the appointment of the son-in-law as CEO is believed to have been an attempt to win the president's favor. According to the prosecutors, all salaries paid by the airline to the son-in-law between 2018 and 2020 were not legitimate salary payments – but bribes to the president.
A spokesperson for Moon's party, the Democratic Party, condemns the indictment as politically motivated and says it "aims to humiliate a former president".
Moon Jae-In, who was South Korea's president between 2017 and 2022, is not the only former president currently entangled with the law. The country is facing an election on June 3 after former President Yoon Suk-Yeol was stripped of his presidency, following his temporary introduction of martial law on December 3.
