Photo : KBS News
First lady Kim Keon-hee will face no charges for accepting a luxury bag and other expensive gifts from a Korean American pastor in 2022.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Wednesday that it will not indict Kim under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, since the gifts she received had nothing to do with President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties and she did not provide any favors in return for the gifts.
There will also be no graft charges for Pastor Choi Jae-young, who gave Kim a Dior bag worth three million won, or around two-thousand-300 U.S. dollars, Chanel cosmetics worth one-point-79 million won, and liquor worth 400-thousand won between June and September 2022.
While Choi claimed to have asked for former U.S. House Rep. Jay Chang Joon Kim to be appointed as a presidential adviser and someday be buried in a national cemetery, the prosecution concluded that Choi’s interactions with the first lady were merely personal.
The prosecution said that while the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act prohibits the spouses of public officials from receiving gifts related to their official duties, it does not stipulate any penalties.
The agency also said President Yoon has no obligation under the act to report gifts that his wife has accepted.
Prosecutors found no grounds to charge the president or the first lady with destroying evidence, saying the Dior bag had been submitted to the prosecution as evidence.
The investigation was launched five months ago after the Voice of Seoul, a left-leaning online news outlet, showed a video of the first lady accepting the bag from Choi, who had secretly filmed their meeting.
The main opposition Democratic Party has since pushed for a special counsel probe against the first lady.