Calls grow within ruling party for first lady's apology over Dior bag

President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee sit in a vehicle after arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for their state visit to the Netherlands, Dec. 12, 2023. Yonhap

Critical voices are growing within the ruling People Power Party (PPP) over controversies surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee, including video footage of her receiving a Dior handbag from a Korean American pastor in 2022.

Their demands are interpreted as the PPP’s appeal to the public before the general elections in April, given the negative public sentiment over the presidential couple’s silence on the controversies. Amid the growing calls, the presidential office is contemplating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol should hold a press conference for New Year or not.

During a policy event, Thursday, PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon told reporters that the first lady’s handbag controversy “can be a matter of public concern.”

“Basically, the matter was a planned set-up using a spy cam,” Han said. “However, there were several misdeeds in handling the issues.”

Voice of Seoul, a liberal YouTube-based news channel, claimed in November that the first lady had been gifted the Christian Dior handbag valued at around 3 million won ($2,240) from the pastor in September 2022 and released video footage of the scene. The video was filmed secretly by the pastor using a camera disguised as a watch and the bag was reportedly provided by the YouTube channel.

Ruling People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon speaks during a policy event in Gangnam District, Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps

The controversy resurfaced after a number of newcomers to the ruling party voiced their critical opinions on the bag issue. They also spoke up about Kim’s alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scandal, for which a special counsel investigation was approved by the National Assembly but vetoed by Yoon.

During a YouTube interview Wednesday with broadcaster JTBC, Kim Kyung-yul, a member of the PPP’s interim leadership, said Yoon or the first lady should “state their position” regarding the handbag controversy, comparing Kim to Marie Antoinette, queen of France in the 17th century.

“Though there are several controversies, the president or the first lady should at least speak about the bag controversy to address the public sentiment,” Kim said. “The French Revolution was an outcome of public uproar over Marie Antoinette’s luxurious life and disorderly privacy. There is no way of defending the first lady from this controversy. The only option is begging for the people’s mercy.”

Lee Soo-jung, a renowned criminal psychologist and a PPP preliminary candidate for Suwon D constituency in Gyeonggi Province, also said in a radio interview with KBS on Wednesday that “There is an easy way of solving this issue — Kim should explain the situation, return the gift if she still owns it and apologize to the public.”

Previously, the PPP had been maintaining its position that the handbag controversy was a planned set-up and Kim was a victim, thus there is no need to address the issue. But the recent remarks are seen as an outcome of the worries that the public sentiment against the ruling bloc is not improving in Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province areas which have a significant number of swing voters.

PPP Rep. Ha Tae-keung said in a radio interview with CBS on Thursday that the first lady should apologize for receiving the bag, though he emphasized that it was a set-up, marking the first instance of a serving PPP lawmaker calling for Kim’s apology.

“There are risks surrounding the first lady and the main opposition party’s strategy is exploiting this to make it appear that the general elections are about the first lady,” Ha said. “The majority of our party believes that these risks should be addressed before the elections.”

Interim leader Han also supported those ideas. “The PPP is a political party where various people can voice various opinions freely, and that makes the party even stronger,” he said.

President Yoon Suk Yeol smiles during a press conference at his office, Aug. 17, 2022. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

Against that backdrop, the presidential office is contemplating whether it should hold a press conference in the near future.

Throughout this month, officials at the presidential office have been saying there are “various opinions on Yoon’s press conference,” but the office is still undecided whether Yoon should answer reporters’ questions.

The indecisiveness appears to be in line with concerns about possible questions on Kim’s handbag controversy and the veto on the special counsel probe bill. Although the presidential office has already explained its own reasons for vetoing the special counsel investigation, sources said the office wants to avoid the spectacle of Yoon facing repeated and detailed questions on the issue during the press conference.

Except for joint press conferences with foreign leaders, Yoon, as president, has held a press conference only once on Aug. 17, 2022, when he was marking 100 days in office. Impromptu interviews with reporters on his way to the office were also discontinued on Nov. 18, 2022.

Since then, Yoon has been focusing on live broadcasting of his remarks during Cabinet meetings and town hall meetings with citizens.