South Korea's prosecution is facing a dilemma over the high-profile "Dior bag" case involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, as the outside panel of the nation's top prosecution body gave the upper hand to a man who wished to be indicted in the graft case in hopes of bringing the first lady to the court. A 15-member outside panel of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Tuesday night recommended that Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young be indicted for his alleged violation of South Korea's antigraft rules by gifting luxury goods worth a combined 5 million won ($3,760), including a Christian Dior bag, to Kim in September 2022. The prosecution is not required to follow the panel's recommendation; however, since the establishment of the external panel in 2018, it has never rejected a recommendation to indict an individual.
If the prosecution chooses to indict Choi while not pursuing charges against Kim, as the panel suggested, it would create a contradictory scenario in which the person who offered the graft is taken to court, but the recipient of the graft is not. The panel, in a separate note, previously recommended not to indict the first lady over the case. Choi told reporters Wednesday that the prosecution will have no choice but to charge him with the crime, which will inevitably follow a renewed investigation into Kim, as well as a criminal punishment for Kim's spouse.
"The prosecution will not leave me unindicted," Choi said as he appeared at a police station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, S.