Prosecution drops charge against first lady over luxury bag scandal

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 Graft Act in December.

The prosecution determined that corruption charges were not applicable to either Yoon or Kim because the handbag has been kept at the presidential office in the state it was first gifted to Kim.

However, Kim still faces other charges relating to her alleged involvement in stock price manipulation and interference with the ruling party’s candidate nominations ahead of the April general elections, which are currently under investigation by the prosecution and the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, respectively.

Additionally, the opposition bloc has been pushing to pass a bill mandating a special counsel to investigate the allegations against the first lady.