The president faced a slowing economy, a deadly crowd crush and nuclear threats from a belligerent neighbor. Then came a far more personal scandal: spy camera footage showing his wife accepting a $2,200 Dior case as a gift.
It has quickly escalated into one of the biggest political crises for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has made his mark on foreign policy by aligning his country more closely with the United States and Japan but has been mired in controversy in interior. Many of them include the first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
The video of Ms. Kim, which emerged late last year, has caused a rift between Mr. Yoon and one of his most trusted lieutenants. His political party was shaken – a senior official called on Ms Kim to apologize and compared her to Marie Antoinette. And, polls show, it has become an important issue ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in an increasingly polarized political atmosphere.
For nearly two years, Ms. Kim has challenged how this deeply patriarchal society views the role of presidential wife. Unlike previous first ladies, who usually stayed in their husband’s shadow, she has enjoyed media attention and even publicly pushed Mr. Yoon’s government to ban the breeding and slaughter of dogs for human consumption. She has spoken of Mr Yoon’s devotion to her, saying in 2022 that he had vowed to cook for her and “kept that promise for the last decade”.
But Mrs. Kim has also often courted controversy, sometimes in ways that critics say highlight her undue influence over the government.
In 2021, when Mr. Yoon, a former prosecutor, campaigned for the presidency, she apologized for inflating her resume to promote her art exhibition business. Conversations with a journalist were then released, who secretly recorded Mrs Kim suggesting she was deeply involved in her husband’s campaign. He called Mr Yun a “fool” who “can’t do anything without me”.
Ms. Kim has also faced accusations that she was involved in a scheme to manipulate stock prices before Mr. Yoon’s election. In December, the opposition-controlled House passed a bill that would have assigned a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations. Mr Yoon, 63, who like Ms Kim, 51, has denied the charges, vetoed the bill.
Mr Yoon, who has said his “happiest memory” was marrying Ms Kim in 2012, was unable to move on from the Dior shoot.
The video was taken in September 2022 by a Korean American pastor named Choi Jae-young with a camera hidden inside a wristwatch. The first news report of the episode came more than a year later, from a left-wing YouTube channel called Voice of Seoul, the same outlet that released Mrs. Kim’s conversation with a reporter.
The video shows Mr Choi visiting Mrs Kim in her personal office outside the presidential compound and presenting her with the gift.
“Why do you keep bringing these up?” Mrs. Kim is heard saying. “Please, you don’t have to do that.”
Mr Choi supports friendly relations between North and South Korea, while Mr Yoon has taken a more aggressive stance towards the North. He said he met Ms. Kim when Mr. Yoon was running for president and received an invitation to Mr. Yoon’s inauguration in May 2022. He visited Ms. Kim’s office a month later to thank her and said he gave her a Chanel $1,300 cosmetic gift set.
During that meeting, Mr. Choi said he overheard a conversation in which Ms. Kim appeared to play a role in appointing a senior government official. He said that’s when he decided to “expose” her. A Voice of Seoul reporter provided him with the spy camera and cloud-blue calfskin Dior case, and Mr. Choi sent a photo of the Dior bag to Ms. Kim, asking for another meeting.
Mr. Choi said that although he had asked to meet the first lady several times, he was granted an audience only twice and only when he informed her in advance that he was bringing expensive gifts. Government officials and their spouses are prohibited from accepting a gift worth more than $750, even if there is no potential conflict of interest.
“The gift was a ticket to an audience with her,” Mr. Choi said.
In the video, Mrs Kim also expressed her desire to be “actively involved in South-North Korea relations”, prompting fears that she was overstepping her role.
As the scandal has raged, Ms Kim has avoided public appearances for a month and a half. Mr Yoon’s office said the president and Ms Kim had “nothing to share” on the matter.
Ms Kim has not publicly commented on the various charges against her since her apology in 2021, when she said she would “keep the role of a wife” if Mr Yun was elected. But during a rare interview with Artnet News last year, he signaled a change, saying he wanted to become a “K-culture salesman” and support Mr. Yoon and his government in “cultural diplomacy.”
In conversations recorded by Mr. Choi and the Voice of Seoul, he appeared to deny allegations of wrongdoing, calling them political smear campaigns.
Some officials from Mr. Yoon’s People’s Power Party accused Mr. Choi of setting a “trap” for Ms. Kim and orchestrating the release of the video to influence the April election. They also said that Mrs. Kim has not used the bag, which has been stored in a presidential storage facility.
A majority of South Koreans, in surveys, say it was inappropriate for Mrs Kim to accept the sack and say they want an investigation and explanation from Mr Yun.
“This is an explosive issue” because it reminds South Koreans of the repeated corruption that has embarrassed most of the country’s former presidents, said Ahn Byong-jin, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
Some members of Mr. Yun’s party demanded an apology from Ms. Kim as damage control. The opposition has accused Ms Kim of influence-peddling and “manipulating government affairs”. Mr. Yoon, they added, was overly protective of his wife, in stark contrast to his government’s aggressive pursuit of corruption charges against Lee Jae-myung, the opposition leader.
Mr. Yoon was also blamed by his allies in the media.
“Conservatives in this country can no longer bear the ‘Danger of Kim Keon Hee,'” said a columnist in the conservative daily Dong-A Ilbo.
With pressure mounting, PPP chairman Kim Gi-hyeon resigned. Mr. Yoon replaced him with a close ally, Han Dong-hoon. But Mr. Han appeared to criticize the administration’s handling of the scandal and appointed the senior official who compared Ms. Kim to Marie Antoinette, a criticism that it resonated with the public.
Mr Yoon then asked for Mr Han’s resignation, according to local media, but until last week the two men appeared to have maintained an uneasy truce.
Their handling of the scandal showed how much influence Mrs Kim wields in Mr Yun’s office, political analysts said. That’s why South Koreans joke, Mr. Ahn said, that “there are two VIPs in Yoon’s office, and VIP No. 1 is Kim Keon Hee’.
