South Korea’s Seoul Central District Court late on 12 August approved a special prosecutor’s request to detain former first lady Kim Keon Hee, saying she presented a risk of destroying evidence. Kim was transferred overnight to Seoul Southern Detention Center after a five-hour hearing earlier in the day. Prosecutors accuse Kim of violating the Capital Markets Act through alleged manipulation of Deutsche Motors stock, accepting luxury gifts—including a Van Cleef & Arpels pendant reportedly worth about 60 million won ($43,000) and two Chanel bags valued at 20 million won—in return for business favors, and meddling in the nomination of parliamentary candidates. The special counsel, led by Min Joong-ki, is examining 16 separate allegations ranging from bribery to influence-peddling. Kim’s detention makes her the first former South Korean first lady to be arrested and places her alongside her husband, impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who is already in custody on insurrection and abuse-of-power charges stemming from a failed attempt to impose martial law in December. The unprecedented jailing of both members of a former presidential couple is expected to intensify the special prosecutor’s broader corruption probe.