The president was confronted with a slowing financial system, a lethal mob crush and nuclear threats from a belligerent neighbor. Then got here a way more private scandal: spy cam footage displaying his spouse accepting a $2,200 Dior purse as a present.
It has shortly grow to be one of many greatest political crises for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has made his mark on international coverage by aligning his nation extra carefully with the US and Japan, however is been mired by controversies at dwelling. lots of them involving the primary woman, Kim Keon Hee.
Ms. Kim's video, which emerged late final yr, prompted a rift between Mr. Yoon and considered one of his most trusted lieutenants. It has lashed out at her political occasion – one senior member referred to as on Ms Kim to apologize and in contrast her to Marie Antoinette. And, polls present, it has grow to be a major difficulty forward of essential parliamentary elections in an more and more polarized political environment.
For practically two years, Mrs. Kim has challenged how this deeply patriarchal society views the position of the presidential husband. In contrast to previous first women, who’ve usually remained of their husband's shadow, she basked within the media highlight and even publicly pushed Mr. Yoon's authorities to ban canine breeding and slaughter for human consumption. She spoke of Mr Yoon's devotion to her, saying in 2022 that he had promised to prepare dinner for her and “saved that promise for the final decade”.
However Ms. Kim has additionally typically attracted controversy, typically in ways in which critics say spotlight her undue affect over the federal government.
In 2021, when Mr. Yoon, a former prosecutor, was working for president, he apologized for inflating his resume to advertise his artwork exhibition enterprise. Then got here the discharge of conversations with a reporter, who secretly recorded Mrs. Kim suggesting she was closely concerned in her husband's marketing campaign. He referred to as Mr. Yoon “a idiot” who “can't do something with out me.” She additionally acknowledged that she is going to combat again in opposition to the pleasant media “if I take energy”.
Ms. Kim additionally confronted allegations that she was concerned in a inventory worth manipulation scheme earlier than Mr. Yoon's election. In December, the opposition-controlled parliament handed a invoice that will have mandated a particular prosecutor to analyze the allegations. Mr. Yoon, 63, who like Ms. Kim, 51, has denied the fees, vetoed the invoice.
Mr Yoon, who mentioned his “happiest reminiscence” was marrying Ms Kim in 2012, couldn't transfer on from the Dior footage.
The video was made in September 2022 by a Korean American pastor named Choi Jae-young with a digital camera hidden in a wristwatch. The primary information report of the episode got here greater than a yr later, from a left-wing YouTube channel referred to as Voice of Seoul, the identical outlet that launched Ms. Kim's chat with a reporter.
Footage exhibits Mr. Choi visiting Ms. Kim in her private workplace outdoors the presidential compound and presenting her with the reward.
“Why do you retain bringing these?” Ms. Kim is heard saying. “Please, you don't have to do that.”
Mr. Choi favors pleasant relations between North and South Korea, whereas Mr. Yoon has taken a extra aggressive stance towards the North. He mentioned he acquired to know Ms. Kim when Mr. Yoon was working for president and obtained an invite to Mr. Yoon's inauguration in Might 2022. He visited Ms. Kim's workplace a month later to thank him and mentioned that he gave a Chanel $ 1,300. beauty reward set.
Throughout that assembly, Mr. Choi mentioned he overheard a dialog by which Ms. Kim appeared to play a job in appointing a senior authorities official. He mentioned that's when he determined to “marry” her. A Voice of Seoul reporter supplied him with the spy cam and cloud-blue calfskin Dior bag, and Mr. Choi despatched a photograph of the Dior bag to Ms. Kim, asking for one more assembly.
Mr. Choi mentioned that though he had requested to fulfill the primary woman a number of occasions, he was granted an viewers solely twice and solely when he let her know prematurely that he was bringing costly presents. Authorities officers and their spouses are prohibited from accepting a present of greater than $750 even when no potential battle of curiosity is concerned.
“The reward was a ticket to an viewers together with her,” mentioned Mr. Choi.
Within the video, Ms Kim additionally expressed her need to “actively contain myself in South-North Korea relations”, elevating fears that she was overstepping her position.
Because the scandal raged, Ms. Kim averted public appearances for a month and a half. Mr. Yoon's workplace mentioned the president and Ms. Kim had “nothing to share” on the matter.
Ms. Kim has not commented publicly on the varied allegations in opposition to her since her 2021 apology, when she mentioned she would “cautious in regards to the position of spouse” if Mr. Yoon was elected. However throughout a uncommon interview with Artnet Information final yr, he signaled a change, saying he wished to grow to be “a Okay-culture vendor” and help Mr. Yoon and his authorities in “cultural diplomacy.”
In conversations recorded by Mr. Choi and Voice of Seoul, he appeared to disclaim the claims of wrongdoing, characterizing them as political smear campaigns.
Some officers from Mr. Yoon's Folks's Social gathering have accused Mr. Choi of setting a “entice” for Ms. Kim and timing the discharge of the video to affect the April election. In addition they mentioned that Ms. Kim didn’t use the purse, which was saved in a presidential repository.
Nearly all of South Koreans, in polls, say it was inappropriate for Mrs. Kim to simply accept the sack and say they need an investigation and an evidence from Mr. Yoon.
“That is an explosive difficulty” as a result of it reminds South Koreans of the recurring corruption that has disgraced many of the nation's former presidents, mentioned Ahn Byong-jin, a political scientist at Kyung Hee College in Seoul.
Some members of Mr. Yoon's occasion demanded an apology from Ms. Kim as injury management. The opposition accused Ms Kim of affect peddling and “manipulation of presidency affairs”. Mr. Yoon, they added, was overly protecting of his spouse, in stark distinction to his authorities's aggressive prosecution of corruption costs in opposition to Lee Jae-myung, the opposition chief.
Mr. Yoon was additionally hit by his allies within the media.
“Conservatives on this nation can now not bear the 'Kim Keon Hee danger,'” mentioned a columnist within the conservative Dong-A Ilbo newspaper.
With stress mounting, PPP chairman Kim Gi-hyeon give up. Mr. Yoon changed him with an in depth ally, Han Dong-hoon. However Mr. Han appeared to criticize the administration's dealing with of the scandal and named the previous official who went on to check Ms. Kim to Marie Antoinette, a criticism that resonated widely with the public.
Mr. Yoon referred to as for Mr. Han's resignation, in line with native media, however final week the 2 males appeared to have signed an uneasy truce.
Her dealing with of the scandal confirmed how a lot affect Ms. Kim has in Mr. Yoon's workplace, political analysts mentioned. That's why South Koreans joke, Mr. Ahn mentioned, that “there are two VIPs in Yoon's workplace and VIP No. 1 is Kim Keon Hee.”
