During the campaign for April's parliamentary elections, a handbag hit South Korean politics like a bomb. Kim Keon Hee, wife of Republic President Yoon Suk Yeol, is suspected of violating anti-corruption law by accepting a gift of a Christian Dior handbag from a priest. The estimated cost of the scandalous gift is 3 million won, which is just over 2,000 euros in euros. Seoul law stipulates that state officials and their relatives are not allowed to accept gifts worth more than one million won: the “Lady Dior” in question is worth three times as much.
It is a story that combines the spy story with the fiction of the K-drama genre and brings joy to viewers in Seoul. Abraham Choi Jae-young is a Protestant pastor with dual citizenship, American and Korean, known for his commitment to reconciliation with North Korea. President Yoon, on the other hand, believes it is necessary to respond to Kim Jong-un's provocations one blow at a time. Reverend Choi claims he requested an audience with the president's wife precisely to illustrate his plans for détente with the North and gain her support. And to ingratiate himself with the First Lady, the religious fixer would have brought her the “Lady Dior.” How do we know this? Who filmed everything with a mini camera hidden in his watch. He then gave the video to an anti-government opposition website, which posted it on YouTube.
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The preacher's job was nice: He started by filming the purchase of the handbag at a boutique in Seoul, he designed the 3 million won price tag, and then showed the Dior-adorned package brought to First's Studio Lady's table . According to him, it was the lady who asked for the “donation” to make the hearing possible: “The handbag was a kind of ticket,” he said. In the audio recording, the president's wife can be heard looking at the package and saying, “Why do you keep bringing me these things?” The video on YouTube sparked controversy. The opposition Democratic Party accused President Yoon of trying to cover up the misdeeds of his wife (who is also a businesswoman). But even the People's Party, to which Yoon belongs, also waded into the controversy out of fear of losing votes: one of its influential lawmakers called Ms. Kim “the Marie Antoinette of Seoul,” referring to the frivolous and wasteful party that uses its votes had lost his crown and head under the guillotine.
Ms. Kim, 51, always beautiful and elegant, is already a much-discussed figure in Seoul, dogged by allegations that she copied her thesis and then speculated on the stock market and engaged in insider trading. Yoon and Madam have refused to speak publicly about the handbag case. The presidential office said in a statement that the president's wife simply accepted the gift, which was then “treated and stored as state property.” The Dior handbag was therefore archived in a warehouse, but the case is not closed.