South Korea's former president Moon says bribery indictment is 'political'

By Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's former president Moon Jae-in said on Friday that prosecutors were becoming political and abusing their power and that his indictment on bribery charges was a good example.

South Korean prosecutors indicted Moon for alleged bribery on Thursday, making him the latest former leader of the country to face legal troubles in a case linked to the employment of his then son-in-law at a Thai airline between 2018 and 2020.

Moon said the indictment against him was unfair and accused the prosecutors of pursuing the case in a predetermined direction.

"Beyond revealing my personal innocence, I plan to focus on properly uncovering and informing the public about the abuse and politicisation of the prosecution's power," he said during a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik.

Prosecutors had been investigating whether former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik's appointment as the head of the SMEs and Startups Agency was in exchange for Moon's former son-in-law getting a job and receiving a salary plus living expenses at the Thai-based corporation that Lee controlled, Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office said in a statement.

Lee was indicted for bribery and breach of trust in the case, according to the statement.

In a statement, Moon's lawyers denied the accusations and said what his ex-son-in-law received were salaries for his work.

They also accused prosecutors of politically targeting Moon ahead of a snap presidential election officially set for June 3 following the impeachment and removal from office of president Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration.

Lee Jae-myung, the ex-leader of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), is leading opinion polls with a double-digit gap with candidates from the conservative People Power Party (PPP).

Moon is from the DP, while Yoon is from the PPP.

Prosecutors referenced previous bribery cases involving former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, both of whom were convicted and jailed, as precedents for Moon's indictment.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Michael Perry)