SEOUL: Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife had ordered diplomats to make special arrangements for their dog, which they planned to take on their 2023 trip to France, a ruling party lawmaker revealed on Monday (Oct 13).
Ultimately, the presidential couple did not take the dog with them to France.
Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee visited France for a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Ahead of the trip, they reached out to the South Korean Embassy in France with specific requests, according to Representative Lee Jae-jung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
These included a space for the dog to stay in the Yoon couple’s hotel suite, a car designated exclusively for the dog, and an embassy official entrusted to care for the dog during the trip.
“I cannot but lament the fact that our state organisation was used in such a way,” Lee said in a parliamentary audit on Oct 13.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not Kim’s personal travel manager, and it is humiliating that it had to serve the ‘first dog’, and prepare its dog house.”
Though the dog in question did not accompany the first couple on the trip, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun did confirm that such a request had been made.
The presidential office at the time contacted the embassy in France directly for this request, without consulting the ministry, he added.
“I will conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that such a thing, which hurts the pride of diplomats, never happens again,” he said. - The Korea Herald/ANN
