Cheong Wa Dae refutes rumors about first lady's wardrobe expenses

By Ko Dong-hwan

Cheong Wa Dae has refuted rumors that first lady Kim Jung-sook had used public funds allotted for the presidential office's special activities to purchase clothes she wore during public events, including state visits.

Cheong Wa Dae deputy spokesperson Shin Hye-hyun told journalists on March 29 that the rumors are false and that Kim had purchased her personal clothes with her own money.

“She never touched any national coffers, including Cheong Wa Dae's budget for special activities, to buy her own clothes,” Shin said.

Shin said that Cheong Wa Dae decided to address the matter because the rumors regarding Kim's wardrobe scandal had not died down since being stirred up a few days ago. If the rumors had been left unexplained, President Moon Jae-in's administration could face embarrassment as its end is drawing near, according to Shin. Moon's term ends on May 10 with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration.

Cheong Wa Dae protocol secretary Tak Hyun-min also defended Kim on Wednesday while making a guest appearance on a news show of local radio station CBS. He reiterated what the deputy spokesperson had said, that not a penny from any government budget had been spent to purchase Kim's clothes.

“She even bought food for the dogs (the ones the first couple has been raising inside Cheong Wa Dae) with her own money,” Tak said. “It's just so amazing that people could come up with the idea that the first lady used Cheong Wa Dae's special activities fund to buy her clothes.”

Some members of the public and lawmakers from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) have been demanding that Cheong Wa Dae disclose detailed transaction records under the presidential office's special activities budget to prove that no money was spent on Kim's wardrobe. PPP floor leader Kim Jae-won said on a different CBS radio show on March 29 that Cheong Wa Dae must stop hiding the truth and disclose detailed transaction records under its special activities budget “to avoid a criminal penalty.”

Tak rejected such demands in his own radio appearance on Wednesday.

“The country has no laws regarding (the purchase of) a first lady's clothes, so Cheong Wa Dae's special activities budget doesn't contain any official categories or sections regarding it,” Tak said. “Besides, if they want to keep claiming Kim used public funds to buy her clothes, they must show some evidence.”

When a listener called in to the show demanding that Tak disclose Kim's personal financial transaction records to prove she paid for her own clothes, he retorted, “Then would you allow me to search your own wardrobe if I want to?” to emphasize the demand's rudeness.

Tak added that even the National Assembly cannot order Cheong Wa Dae to disclose records of its special activities budget because there is no existing law to support such an order.

The most controversial thing Kim wore that seems to have stirred up the controversy was a leopard-shaped silver brooch that she wore on a white jacket. It was shown in a photo from 2018, in which she was posing for a selfie with a female Indian student in Korea at a theater in Seoul's Gangnam District, where she watched the Indian movie “Dangal” with the students. Some identified the brooch as a product of high-end luxury brand Cartier, worth 200 million won ($164,000).

An associate of Cartier Korea said on March 29 that the brooch in question wasn't one of its products. Cheong Wa Dae also said that the brooch Kim wore had a different design from what people claimed was made by the brand. The explanations then led to more questions as to whether Kim had worn an imitation Cartier brooch. Tak responded on Facebook on March 29 that not all leopard-shaped brooches are imitations of a specific product.

Kim had worn the brooch not simply as an accessory but as a gesture of courtesy towards Indian visitors at the theater, according to Tak. “To Indians, the tiger is a special animal. Kim tried to express that notion in her choice of outfits, and the closest item she could find was that brooch she owned,” he said.

Former Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung, now a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said in an interview with local network YTN's radio channel on March 29 that the allegations regarding Kim's wardrobe were an “obvious dirty trick to smear Cheong Wa Dae's morality.”

“There was a huge controversy at the end of the Park Geun-hye administration about the former president using Cheong Wa Dae's special activities fund for her personal affairs,” Ko said. “Using common sense, would the Moon administration (which followed Park's) make the same blunder?”

Ko also recalled that Kim not only purchased her clothes with her own money but that she also used to repair her damaged clothes by herself. “Her mother used to sell fabrics, so Kim, learning from her mother, had a knack for fixing clothes using different fabrics. I saw her do that many times. So when I saw the news about the wardrobe scandal, it made me laugh.”