SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean court issued a warrant to detain Kweon Seong-dong, lawmaker of the main conservative opposition People Power Party on bribery charge, a special counsel team said Wednesday.

The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant, sought by the team of Min Joong-ki, special prosecutor leading the investigation into corruption allegations involving Kim Keon-hee, wife of the impeached former President Yoon Suk-yeol.

The court said that Kweon was feared to destroy evidence. The five-term lawmaker was jailed in the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of the capital Seoul.

Kweon, once seen as a close confidant of Yoon, was accused of receiving illegal political funds and being promised church member votes from a former official of Unification Church in January 2022 ahead of the presidential election in March of the year.

In return, Kweon was asked to favor the church if Yoon, then presidential candidate of the People Power Party, was elected.

The National Assembly approved a motion to detain Kweon on Thursday as incumbent lawmakers are immune from detention while the parliament is in session.

Yoon has been kept in custody at the Seoul Detention Center since July 10 on insurrection charges over his short-lived martial law imposition last December.

Yoon's wife has also been incarcerated in a separate detention center on corruption charges. ■