[hanomantoto]

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – In a televised speech and press conference, South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, expressed his apology because his wife, Kim Keon Hee, has been involved in controversies. He made the apology while bowing his head and stating that the first lady has promised to him to change for the better.

Controversies and Scandals of South Korean First Lady

1. Candidate Intervention in Elections

In September, News Tomato reported that Kim Keon Hee was illegally involved in nominating candidates for the upcoming by-election in 2022 and parliamentary elections in 2024. Initial reports and further investigation by mainstream media revealed that Kim used her relationship with Myung Tae-kyun, a shadowy figure related to a polling agency, to meddle in the candidate nomination process.

2. Falsifying Her Work Resume

Kim apologized for what she referred to as “exaggerations” in her job applications to Suwon University in 2007 and Anyang University in 2013. She expressed regret for bringing negative publicity to her husband.

“I made a mistake trying to balance my career and studies,” Kim said in the conference. “I exaggerated my past experiences to make myself look prominent, and now I look back on it with shame.”

In the resume she submitted to Suwon Women’s University in 2007, Kim claimed to have served as the director of the Korea Game Industry Association for three years starting in 2002, before the association was officially established. In her 2007 resume, Kim also wrote that she attended the “Business Entertainment and Media Executive Program” at New York University from October to November 2006. However, a similar program named “Entertainment, Media, and Technology” was only available to second-year MBA students at the university, and Kim was not one of them.

In another resume submitted to Anyang University in 2013, she claimed to have won the top prize in the animation category at the 2004 Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, but the ministry had no record of Kim receiving the award.

3. Threatening Journalists

In late January 2024, Kim Keon-hee sparked controversy after stating that she would jail journalists who criticized her husband. The criticism came during the 2022 South Korean presidential campaign. “If I succeed in reaching the Blue House, I will imprison all of them,” Kim said at the time, as quoted by The Straits Times.

4. Dior Bag Case

In late 2023, Kim was alleged to have received a luxury handbag gratuity from Christian Dior. This scandal has caused political upheaval in South Korea and contributed to the landslide defeat of President Yoon Suk Yeol‘s ruling party in the April election.

After months-long investigations into whether Kim violated anti-corruption laws, prosecutors concluded that although she received handbags, Chanel beauty products, and whiskey from a pastor, these gifts were unrelated to her official duties and no favors were given, Yonhap cited the prosecutor’s office as saying.

Prosecutors also decided to drop bribery charges against the pastor, Pastor Abraham Choi, an acquaintance of Kim’s family, who secretly recorded the conversations with a hidden camera and later released the video on a left-wing, anti-Yoon YouTube channel, Yonhap said.

Opposition lawmakers have called for a special counsel investigation into this case and other alleged infractions involving the First Lady. The opposition-controlled parliament passed a bill last month to investigate, which was vetoed by Yoon.

The South Korean President described the scandal as a political maneuver. However, he later apologized for his wife’s “unwise behavior” and pledged to amend regulations to ensure such incidents do not happen again.

ANANDA RIDHO SULISTYA | REUTERS

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