As of: January 29, 2024, 8:46 a.m
By: Sven Hauberg
Comments
Press
Split
Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee in November after landing in London.
© Henry Nicholls/AFP
South Korea's first lady accepts a luxury gift, sparking a nationwide debate.
The president is under pressure.
It was probably the most momentous handbag purchase in South Korean history.
Two years ago in September, Abraham Choi, a Korean-American pastor, purchased a Dior handbag for three million won, the equivalent of just over 2,000 euros.
A little later he presented the bag made of the finest calf leather to the South Korean First Lady at a meeting in her office.
The recipient tried politely to defend herself.
“Don’t always do this,” said Kim Keon-hee, and “never buy anything as expensive as this.”
She took the bag anyway.
How do you know all this?
Pastor Choi secretly filmed the entire process.
The three million won price tag, the meeting, the first lady.
The shaky video appeared on the Internet at the end of last year, and now, a few weeks later, the whole of South Korea is talking about the “Dior scandal”.
And Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea's president and Kim Keon-hee's husband, is finding himself in more and more trouble: from the opposition, of course, but also within his own party.
Kim may have violated South Korea's anti-corruption law, which prohibits government officials and their associates from accepting such expensive gifts.
Pastor Choi told the Reuters news agency that he initially wanted to meet with Kim to talk to her about her husband's tough anti-North Korea course.
Expensive gifts were “something like a ticket” to an audience with the First Lady, and that worried him so much that he secretly filmed a second meeting – the one with the handbag.
The camera and handbag were apparently paid for by an opposition media outlet.
Like Marie Antoinette?
South Korea's first lady under fire
In Yoon Suk-yeol's conservative People Power Party (PPP), two factions are now arguing over how to interpret the incident.
Has Kim Keon-hee fallen victim to a malicious conspiracy?
Or is she guilty of corruption?
President Yoon Suk-yeol, unsurprisingly, protects his wife.
She accepted the bag on behalf of the state, not privately, the president's office said.
Kim Kyung-yul, a high-ranking PPP official, however, did not want to let the 51-year-old get off so easily.
“Why did the French Revolution happen?
It erupted after revelations about Marie Antoinette's luxury and wild private life," he explained.
“I think this incident also touched a nerve among the public.” Han Dong-hoon, interim head of the PPP and actually a close confidant of Yoon, also called the bag affair “a matter of public interest.”
Yoon and his wife also came under fire from liberal media such as the daily newspaper
Hankyoreh
.
In a commentary on Thursday, the paper recalled various other affairs of the First Lady.
Kim Keon-hee is said to have copied her doctoral thesis and manipulated stock prices, and she also allegedly counts a controversial shaman among her friends.
Lee Jae-myung, head of the Democratic Party (DPK), attacked Yoon head-on on Friday.
“Not only is the President failing to communicate with the public, but he is also actively involved in covering up suspicions surrounding the First Lady,” the politician raged.
South Korea votes in April
The Dior affair comes at the worst possible time for Yoon Suk-yeol.
South Korea will elect a new parliament in April, and Yoon's PPP is already in the minority there.
He also narrowly won the presidential election two years ago, less than one percentage point ahead of Lee Jae-myung.
It is feared that the 2,000 euro purse could now cost the PPP votes.
My news
Baerbock hits the Union with the K question at a carnival event - “... and get Söder” read
Russia reacts to major NATO maneuvers – and threatens “tragic consequences” read
If Russia wins: Hungarian right-wing extremist wants to annex Ukrainian territories read
Russians are advancing on several sectors of the front: Putin's goal is becoming more and more concrete
Dispute between Texas and Biden: Medvedev speculates about “bloody civil war” read
Ukraine Navy in transition: Vice Admiral wants to attack Russian territory
The election in April is not a good one anyway.
Since Yoon Suk-yeol's election in March 2022, the president's camp and that of DPK leader Lee have been pitilessly opposed to each other in South Korea.
Instead of approaching his political opponent, as is usual in South Korea, President Yoon had his prosecutors indict the election loser on alleged corruption and other charges.
Lee, in turn, accused Yoon of wanting to intimidate his political opponents.
Polarization in the country has also led to an increase in violence against politicians.
In mid-December, Lee was seriously injured by an attacker with a knife at a press conference in the city of Busan - apparently an attempted murder.
And just this Thursday, an unknown man attacked PPP lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin in Seoul with a stone.
The background to the crime was initially completely unclear.