Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
First lady becomes political football
First lady Kim Keon-hee, center, pays her respects at the grave of former President Roh Moo-hyun in Bongha village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. The woman standing behind Kim is Kim's friend. Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Accused of blurring line between public, private life and cronyism
By Kang Seung-woo
First lady Kim Keon-hee became the object of contention between the ruling and main opposition parties on Wednesday, as they clashed over Kim bringing her friend to meet Kwon Yang-sook, the widow of former President Roh Moo-hyun, in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.
Rep. Park Hong-keun, the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), criticized Kim for failing to separate official and private matters as the nation's first lady.
“Although President Yoon Suk-yeol removed the presidential office department handling affairs for the first lady and Kim herself promised during the campaign to keep a low profile, her public appearances have increased,” Park said during a party meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul.
“Her visit to Bongha Village cannot be seen as a personal matter, so she was not supposed to take her friends or acquaintances there. The people who attend the official itineraries of the president and his spouse must be selected based on the purpose of the event,” he said.
The three-term lawmaker also criticized the presidential office for its lukewarm response to the incident.
“In the wake of the controversy, the presidential office just excused itself, citing a lack of personnel to take care of the first lady, but it is not considering setting up an office for her,” Park said.
The president scrapped the office previously responsible for handling the first lady's schedule in line with one of his campaign pledges, although concerns have arisen over its absence.
During the election campaign in December, Kim apologized amid allegations that she falsified her career credentials on resumes she used to apply for teaching positions, and said she would focus on playing the role of Yoon's “dutiful wife” even if he were to be elected president.
According to a recent public poll, 60.6 percent of Koreans said Kim should focus on assisting her husband, compared to 31.3 percent who support her role in public activities.
Rep. Park said that Yoon should choose between having Kim stay out of the public eye and apologizing for breaking his campaign pledge and establishing a presidential office to handle her activities properly.
“Every move of the president's spouse can be directly connected to the status of the country,” he added.
Kim has also been accused of hiring her former employees as presidential office staff.
Four people, including an old friend, accompanied Kim on her trip to Bongha Village. Two of them previously worked for Covana Contents, an art exhibition firm the first lady founded. One of them was a full-time employee at the company, and the other was employed on a contract basis, according to the presidential office.
Their ties to Kim triggered allegations of cronyism as she played a role in hiring the former employees as presidential office staff, whose main duties are not related to assisting the first lady.
The presidential office denied the allegations.
“Not only the incumbent president but also former presidents did work with people they had known for a long time, so hiring people who are close to (the first lady) is not uncommon,” she said. “I understand that they joined the presidential office for this reason… They are assisting the first lady when they are called to do so and not on a full-time basis, as their main duties are not related to her.”
The ruling People Power Party, meanwhile, tried to defend Kim.
Jung Mi-kyung, a supreme council member of the party, said in a radio interview that the first lady can take her friend along on her visit to the widow of the late president.
“I think she has lived up to her commitment that she would keep a low profile and live as the spouse of the president,” Jung said.
Yoon defended his wife, saying the friend probably helped his wife carry gifts for Kwon.
“I know the person who appeared in the photo, and she is a longtime friend of my wife from Busan,” Yoon told reporters as he arrived for work. “It appears that when they went to see Kwon, they brought with them a lot of bread and other stuff that she likes, and my wife's friend knew a place in Busan that's good at that and introduced it to her.”
Kim's friend in question is Kim Ryang-yeong, an adjunct professor of dance at Chungnam National University, who worked as a managing director at Covana Contents, Kim's exhibition planning firm.
Yoon added, “Isn't Bongha village somewhere any citizen can visit?”
The president also said he would listen to the public sentiment about his wife's official activities.