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A political uproar over a luxury handbag gifted to South Korea's first lady sparked a rift at the top of the country's ruling party this week and sparked allegations of abuse of power less than three months before a general election.
The scandal dates back to December last year, when a liberal YouTube channel revealed that Kim Keon Hee, the wife of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, received a Christian Dior bag worth from a Korean-American pastor, Choi of about 3 million won (2,200 US dollars) Jae-jung had received.
“Why do you keep bringing me these things?” Kim asks Choi in the video that the priest filmed in 2022 using a camera function on his watch.
The footage has led to calls from across the political spectrum for an apology and an investigation into whether the presidential couple violated anti-corruption laws.
“The president not only fails to communicate with the public, but also actively participates in concealing suspicions about the first lady, blatantly interfering in party affairs and meddling in elections,” said Lee Jae-myung, leader of the opposition party Democratic Party, facing a caucus meeting on Friday.
Yoon and Kim refused to publicly address the allegations of misconduct. Her political allies accused the YouTube channel of fraud and dirty tricks.
The presidential office told local media that Kim had accepted the gift, which would be “managed and stored as government property.” The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kim Keon Hee arrives for a state dinner at the White House in Washington in April. Her controversial public image has always dogged President Yoon Suk Yeol © Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesBut last week, the leader of Yoon's People Power party, former justice minister Han Dong-hoon, acknowledged that the donation could be “a matter of public interest.”
According to local media reports, Yoon was also outraged by comments from PPP lawmaker and Han ally Kim Kyung-yul, who compared the first lady to Marie Antoinette last week.
That led to a visit from Yoon's chief of staff and a request that Han — who, like Yoon, is a former prosecutor and widely considered a confidant and protégé of the president — step down as party leader just over a month after taking office.
But Han refused, plunging the party into crisis when he made the proposal public this week. Analysts said the growing controversy was beginning to threaten the Conservatives' chances in the upcoming general election.
The DP currently holds a majority in the country's National Assembly, but polls suggest a close race: 29 percent of voters surveyed last month expressed a preference for the PPP, 25 percent for the DP and 35 percent undecided, according to Hankook research.
However, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, Yoon's disapproval rating rose five percentage points from the previous week to its highest level in nine months.
Han Dong-hoon, head of the ruling People Power Party and widely seen as a protégé of President Yoon Suk Yeol, has admitted that the gift was “a matter of public interest.” © Yonhap/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock AFP via Getty ImagesThe First Lady's controversial image has repeatedly haunted President Yoon. This month, Yoon vetoed an opposition bill that would launch a special investigation into his wife's alleged involvement in stock manipulation.
Kim has also publicly apologized for allegations of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis and a series of false claims on her CV, while the president's 76-year-old mother-in-law was recently sentenced to a year in prison for fraud.
“The questions surrounding Kim's correctness have repeatedly undermined Yoon's image as a corruption fighter,” said Jeongmin Kim, editorial director at Seoul-based information service Korea Pro.
She added that pressure from Yoon's office on Han to resign, a move widely seen as an overstepping of the president's authority, had raised concerns – including among some PPP lawmakers – about the government's “authoritarian tendencies.”
“During South Korea’s authoritarian period, all political power was concentrated in the presidency,” she said. “So it looks really bad that a president is so blatantly interfering in parliamentary politics – and in an issue that affects his own family.”
Supporters see Yoon as an independent-minded transplant raider who was willing to push back against corrupt practices on both sides of South Korea's bitter political divide. As a tough prosecutor, he oversaw the conviction of conservative former President Park Geun-hye and Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on bribery and corruption charges.
But opponents accuse him of using the presidency – and previously the prosecutor's office – to protect allies and pursue political vendettas.
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Last year, Lee Jae-myung, the DP chief who lost to Yoon by less than a percentage point in the 2022 presidential election, went on a hunger strike to protest the Yoon government's policies.
Lee, who is also being prosecuted for soliciting an underwear maker to transfer $8 million to North Korea in an illegal attempt to promote economic ties, was stabbed in the neck this month by an attacker who “took him to it.” wanted to prevent him from becoming president,” the police say.
The opposition leader has since returned to the front lines of politics but is now facing a criminal complaint from medical groups who argue his condition does not justify transporting him from the southern city of Busan to a hospital in Seoul.
“[Lee] “could have been treated at Pusan National University Hospital if it was a matter of life and death for him,” said Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Pediatric Association, after filing the complaint with prosecutors. “Lawmakers are mobilizing to achieve a [helicopter] Transfer to Seoul. . . is an abuse of power and a demand for special treatment.”