South Korean first lady won’t face graft charge

SEOUL – Prosecutors in South Korea have decided not to charge first lady Kim Keon-hee over allegations of inappropriately accepting gifts last year, including a Christian Dior handbag, the Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.
The case has caused a political uproar in South Korea and contributed to a bruising election defeat for the ruling party of President Yoon Suk-yeol in April.
After a months-long investigation into whether Kim violated anti-corruption laws, prosecutors concluded that although she received the handbag, Chanel beauty products and whisky from a Christian pastor, prosecutors concluded the gifts did not relate to her official duties and no favours were given in return, Yonhap said.
Calls to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office went unanswered. Yoon’s office said it had no immediate comment.
Prosecutors also decided to drop graft charges against the pastor, Rev Abraham Choi, according to a family acquaintance of Kim, who secretly filmed the exchange with a hidden camera and later released the video on a left-wing, anti-Yoon YouTube channel.
Choi had told reporters, when he appeared for questioning by prosecutors, that he asked for several favours when he handed the gifts to the president’s wife. However, prosecutors dismissed this, saying the interactions were personal, according to Yonhap.
Choi could not be immediately reached for comment.
Opposition lawmakers have called for a special counsel investigation into the case and allegations of other irregularities involving the first lady. The opposition-controlled parliament passed a bill to that effect last month but it was vetoed by the president.
Yoon has described the scandal as a political manoeuvre, but later apologised for causing public concerns due to what he called his wife’s “unwise behaviour” and promised to improve rules to ensure such incidents do not happen again.