First lady Kim Keon Hee and President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a dinner hosted by the presidential office for South Korean Olympians at a hotel in Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps Justice minister faces grilling over decision to acquit Kim Keon Hee By Kwak Yeon-soo The ruling party and opposition camps clashed, Friday, over the prosecution’s decision to acquit first lady Kim Keon Hee of violating anti-graft laws during a meeting of the legislation and judiciary committee at the National Assembly. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has called for a special counsel investigation into Kim’s luxury handbag case.
The request follows the prosecution’s conclusion and the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission’s decision to close the case against Kim, citing the lack of a punitive clause for public officials’ spouses under the anti-graft act. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office (SCDPO), which investigated the allegation that Kim received a luxury handbag worth about 3 million won ($2,252) from a Korean American pastor named Choi Jae-young in 2022, concluded that she was not guilty of any wrongdoing. The office stated that the bag was given "not in exchange for favors" but simply "out of gratitude.
" Prosecutor General Lee One-seok remained silent on the issue, and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has yet to determine whether it will convene a prosecution investigation review committee. Choi, who made headlines for secretly filming himself handing over the luxury handbag gift to the first lady, held a press conference in front of the SCDPO, Friday, and requested the office to convene the prosecution investigation review committee. “The prosecution granted immunity to the first lady in the luxury handbag case, opening up a new path like Moses’ Miracle for all spouses of public officials to freely receive money and valuables,” Rep.
Kim Byung-joo of the DPK said, Friday. Rep. Lee Sung-yoon of the DPK, and a former chief of the SCDPO, denounced the prosecution for failing to hold the powerful accountable.
“The investigation by prosecutors into the first lady’s luxury bag case was conducted unfairly, leading to an unjust outcome. If the prosecution continues to do this, it should be abolished. We need to request a reinvestigation,” Lee said.
Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, left, attends a meeting of the legislation and judiciary committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who attended the judiciary committee’s meeting, was grilled by the opposition regarding the prosecution’s decision to acquit and not indict the first lady. “I wasn’t briefed about the prosecutors’ investigation, so it seems inappropriate as justice minister to give an opinion merely based on media reports,” the minister said.
Opposition parties also claimed that prosecutors had failed to properly investigate allegations behind the first lady's involvement in a stock manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in Korea. On the other hand, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) introduced a separate bill to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations that former first lady Kim Jung-sook, wife of former President Moon Jae-in, abused her power by taking a taxpayer-funded solo trip to India in November 2018.
However, this bill was not discussed at Friday's parliamentary judiciary meeting . The PPP alleges that Kim spent 400 million won in public funds, including about 62 million won on in-flight meals, and that she used taxpayer money to visit the Taj Mahal for personal reasons. The controversy is heightened by the fact that this was the first time in 16 years that a Korean first lady made a foreign visit unaccompanied by the president, raising questions about whether she was officially invited .
Meanwhile, a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Shim Woo-jung, the prosecutor general nominee, will be held on Sept. 3. Shim, the incumbent vice justice minister, was tapped as the new prosecutor general on Aug.
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