STOCK price manipulation, luxury items omitted from personal assets disclosure, inviting a police officer involved in an ongoing investigation to an official event, allegations of plagiarism and calls for further investigations, falsification of credentials, suspicious developments in hiring at and construction contracts for government facilities.
These are just some of the allegations raised in the past few months against South Korean First Lady Kim Keon-hee that have prompted the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea to call for the “Kim Keon-hee Prevention Act”.
Over four months into the presidency of her husband Yoon Suk-yeol, the controversy over the First Lady shows no signs of abating. Issues once deemed mere gossip have now entered the centre of the political arena and sometimes even overshadow the president’s activities and visions, raising the need to re-create the office in charge of Kim’s activities and scandals.
On Sept 2, a transcript of a call with Kim, who is under investigation for Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation, came out in local news reports. In the transcript, Kim asked a securities firm employee to buy stock when prices were being manipulated. Kim was also found to have continued to trade in the period during which she claimed to have had no contact with the person who led the stock price manipulation. The presidential office immediately countered, labelling it a false report.
Just a day prior, a luxury necklace worn by Kim while she accompanied Yoon on his trip to Spain in June stoked controversy after being omitted from a property report. Although the presidential office explained it was borrowed from an acquaintance, complaints were not stifled, with critics saying she is not “honest”. The necklace is appraised at about 62 million won (RM202,600).
The same day, another controversy brewed after news reports that a police officer investigating Kim’s family had been invited to attend Yoon’s inauguration. Police have also been investigating allegations that Kim and her mother received preferential treatment for a development project in the Gongheung district of Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, for about 10 months.
Also, on Sept 2, students of Sookmyung Women’s University and Kookmin University’s Alumni Emergency Response Committee said that their schools should investigate allegations of plagiarism in Kim’s theses at their institutions, as the schools have hesitated.
The main opposition Democratic Party said it has reviewed a Bill it calls the “Kim Keon-hee Prevention Act” to strengthen punishment for career and credentials falsification at this year’s regular National Assembly.
Those news reports published last week represent only a fraction of the controversies and allegations surrounding Kim, who has continually made headlines since Yoon began his run for the presidency last year.
When Yoon was a presidential candidate in December, Kim held a press briefing to address various allegations. In June this year, after Yoon became South Korea’s first president to visit a Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) summit, Kim stole headlines for taking an acquaintance with her. When news of Kim’s travel companion came out on July 6, online searches for her exceeded those for Yoon on the nation’s largest search engine, Naver, according to its data comprehensive keyword research tool Naver Datalab.
“The interest in the First Lady in Korea was previously nothing but gossip, but it has now entered the centre of the political arena and it is emerging as an important means of attacking the opposing camp,” said Choi Jin, head of the Institute for Presidential Leadership in Seoul.
“The biggest problem is the elimination of the office in charge of First Lady affairs,” Choi said. “She is working with her acquaintances and there is no professional expert who could put the brakes on what goes wrong.”
Critics, including Choi, see as necessary the return of what has been called the “second office” charged with taking care of First Lady business, which Yoon abolished after taking office. Because Kim is a public figure who receives public support such as security and courtesy through taxes, her public activities as the president’s spouse need to be institutionalised, supervised and transparently disclosed, they say.
In a radio interview, political critic Lee Jong-hoon said, “If the second office was in operation, the presidential office could have answered it immediately (about the necklace), and if the opposition party demands it, the data could be released immediately.”
When Yoon was a presidential candidate, he pledged to abolish the second office to reduce the role of the First Lady. However, as the First Lady has continued to stoke speculation and scandals, he told reporters in June that he would think about recreating the office by considering public opinion.
Political consultant Bae Jong-chan believes the controversy surrounding the First Lady could last until the end of Yoon’s term, even if the second office comes back.
“The fundamental reason for the unending controversy lies in Kim herself, who continues to create allegations and does not clearly explain them,” Bae said. “The solution could be for her to actively elucidate all of the suspicions or make no public appearances at all. But it is difficult to expect either.” – The Korea Herald/ Asia News Network
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