First lady Kim Keon Hee arrives at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 22, following her trip to the Czech Republic. Yonhap By Kwak Yeon-soo Prosecutors decided to drop charges against first lady Kim Keon Hee, Wednesday, over her acceptance of a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor in 2022.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office cleared Kim of charges that she violated the anti-graft law, concluding that her acceptance of a Dior handbag and other gifts from pastor Choi Jae-young was unrelated to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties and there was no recognized job-related connection for the gifts. It also noted that the country’s anti-graft law does not include provisions for punishing the spouses of public officials. The prosecution also dropped graft charges against Choi, concluding that his interactions with Kim were merely personal communications.
Choi allegedly conspired with YouTube-based media outlet Voice of Seoul to secretly film his meeting with Kim and the gifting of the bag valued at around 3 million won ($2,206) in September 2022, about four months after Yoon’s inauguration. The media outlet then released the footage last November. The final decision comes nearly 10 months after the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic group, filed a corruption complaint with the commission against President Yoon Suk Yeol and the first lady as well as the pastor on charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Gr.
