SEOUL: Hidden digicam footage apparently displaying South Korea’s first woman accepting a luxurious designer purse has engulfed President Yoon Suk Yeol in controversy, threatening his occasion’s April election prospects.
Dubbed the ‘Dior bag scandal‘ by native papers, it has triggered a stoop in Yoon’s already low approval scores and set off a firestorm in his occasion, simply months out from the important thing polls the place they hope to win again a parliamentary majority.
A left-leaning pastor, who disapproves of Yoon’s hawkish North Korea coverage and claims to be involved in regards to the first woman’s affect on the administration, used a wristwatch to document himself presenting Kim Keon Hee with a $2,200 designer purse.
The primary woman, a self-professed animal lover finest identified internationally for her work pushing South Korea to ban canine meat, is heard telling the pastor: “Please do not buy an costly merchandise like this”.
However she will not be seen returning the bag within the footage, first launched final yr by a left-wing YouTube channel essential of Yoon. The pastor has additionally claimed he introduced her with costly beauty objects as a present at a earlier assembly.
The present would violate South Korean legislation banning public officers and their spouses from accepting presents price greater than $750.
The president’s workplace declined an AFP request for remark.
An official from Yoon’s workplace has advised the Yonhap Information Company that the present was being “saved in accordance with the related rules”.
For weeks, the ruling occasion ignored the bag incident, and neither the president nor his spouse have addressed it publicly.
However a member of Yoon’s occasion, Kim Kyung-yul, final month likened the state of affairs to Marie Antoinette, the French queen identified for her lavish way of life.
Native media studies speculated that Yoon was furious and needed to take away the occasion’s chief over it, whilst different lawmakers lined as much as defend the primary woman, decrying a “smear marketing campaign” and blaming the pastor’s “foul intentions”.
Pastor Choi Jae-young, who’s in favour of higher ties with Pyongyang and has visited the North many instances previously, says he determined to movie his assembly with the primary woman after turning into involved about her energy throughout the president’s workplace.
He claimed at a press convention to have seen Kim direct the appointment of a senior finance official in a telephone dialog throughout an earlier assembly.
“I used to be appalled from seeing Kim exercising energy as if she had been accountable for official appointments,” Choi stated.
The YouTube channel filmed your entire buy of the Dior bag at a luxurious retailer in Seoul, to exhibit how a lot it value, earlier than the pastor presents it to Kim.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into Choi, native studies stated, after he was sued for breaking and getting into and obstruction of justice by a civic group.
Whereas secret filming was utilized in “trapping” the primary woman, she “obtained an merchandise she mustn’t have obtained”, a column within the extensively learn Dong-A Ilbo newspaper stated Tuesday.
“I ponder whether there has ever been as a lot public curiosity in a Dior bag earlier than,” the column stated.
It’s not the primary time Kim has confronted public scrutiny. Throughout Yoon’s presidential marketing campaign, she was pressured to apologise over falsified credentials.
She has additionally confronted accusations of inventory manipulation, with the opposition-controlled legislature passing a particular invoice mandating a probe that was later vetoed by her husband.
However these claims have did not seize the general public’s creativeness just like the purse video, lawyer and political commentator Yoo Jung-hoon advised AFP, possible as a result of “inventory manipulation by nature includes complicated authorized and technical phrases” not as simply grasped.
“Everybody is aware of Dior and there is even direct footage of the assembly, making it very easy for the general public to digest,” he stated.
The “Dior bag scandal” has hit Yoon’s already low approval scores, which analysts say may harm his occasion’s prospects in April.
About 70 per cent of individuals consider he wants to deal with the problem, in accordance with a latest survey by native broadcaster YTN.
The incident may have been contained if Yoon had defined it earlier, nevertheless it may now “chip away each at Yoon’s and his occasion’s approval forward of the April elections”, commentator Yoo stated.
The primary woman herself has not spoken publicly for over a month, even when lawmakers accepted in early January a canine meat ban — a major PR victory for her, after her lengthy marketing campaign.
In South Korean tradition, “there’s an important emphasis for public officers to separate their official conduct from private issues”, stated Cho Ki-suk, professor of worldwide research at Ewha Womans College.
“It is arduous to see this Dior bag controversy as a gender difficulty. I believe Yoon will apologise over this ultimately, as a result of with out his apology, there is not a lot his occasion can do in election campaigning to win.”
Dubbed the ‘Dior bag scandal‘ by native papers, it has triggered a stoop in Yoon’s already low approval scores and set off a firestorm in his occasion, simply months out from the important thing polls the place they hope to win again a parliamentary majority.
A left-leaning pastor, who disapproves of Yoon’s hawkish North Korea coverage and claims to be involved in regards to the first woman’s affect on the administration, used a wristwatch to document himself presenting Kim Keon Hee with a $2,200 designer purse.
The primary woman, a self-professed animal lover finest identified internationally for her work pushing South Korea to ban canine meat, is heard telling the pastor: “Please do not buy an costly merchandise like this”.
However she will not be seen returning the bag within the footage, first launched final yr by a left-wing YouTube channel essential of Yoon. The pastor has additionally claimed he introduced her with costly beauty objects as a present at a earlier assembly.
The present would violate South Korean legislation banning public officers and their spouses from accepting presents price greater than $750.
The president’s workplace declined an AFP request for remark.
An official from Yoon’s workplace has advised the Yonhap Information Company that the present was being “saved in accordance with the related rules”.
For weeks, the ruling occasion ignored the bag incident, and neither the president nor his spouse have addressed it publicly.
However a member of Yoon’s occasion, Kim Kyung-yul, final month likened the state of affairs to Marie Antoinette, the French queen identified for her lavish way of life.
Native media studies speculated that Yoon was furious and needed to take away the occasion’s chief over it, whilst different lawmakers lined as much as defend the primary woman, decrying a “smear marketing campaign” and blaming the pastor’s “foul intentions”.
Pastor Choi Jae-young, who’s in favour of higher ties with Pyongyang and has visited the North many instances previously, says he determined to movie his assembly with the primary woman after turning into involved about her energy throughout the president’s workplace.
He claimed at a press convention to have seen Kim direct the appointment of a senior finance official in a telephone dialog throughout an earlier assembly.
“I used to be appalled from seeing Kim exercising energy as if she had been accountable for official appointments,” Choi stated.
The YouTube channel filmed your entire buy of the Dior bag at a luxurious retailer in Seoul, to exhibit how a lot it value, earlier than the pastor presents it to Kim.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into Choi, native studies stated, after he was sued for breaking and getting into and obstruction of justice by a civic group.
Whereas secret filming was utilized in “trapping” the primary woman, she “obtained an merchandise she mustn’t have obtained”, a column within the extensively learn Dong-A Ilbo newspaper stated Tuesday.
“I ponder whether there has ever been as a lot public curiosity in a Dior bag earlier than,” the column stated.
It’s not the primary time Kim has confronted public scrutiny. Throughout Yoon’s presidential marketing campaign, she was pressured to apologise over falsified credentials.
She has additionally confronted accusations of inventory manipulation, with the opposition-controlled legislature passing a particular invoice mandating a probe that was later vetoed by her husband.
However these claims have did not seize the general public’s creativeness just like the purse video, lawyer and political commentator Yoo Jung-hoon advised AFP, possible as a result of “inventory manipulation by nature includes complicated authorized and technical phrases” not as simply grasped.
“Everybody is aware of Dior and there is even direct footage of the assembly, making it very easy for the general public to digest,” he stated.
The “Dior bag scandal” has hit Yoon’s already low approval scores, which analysts say may harm his occasion’s prospects in April.
About 70 per cent of individuals consider he wants to deal with the problem, in accordance with a latest survey by native broadcaster YTN.
The incident may have been contained if Yoon had defined it earlier, nevertheless it may now “chip away each at Yoon’s and his occasion’s approval forward of the April elections”, commentator Yoo stated.
The primary woman herself has not spoken publicly for over a month, even when lawmakers accepted in early January a canine meat ban — a major PR victory for her, after her lengthy marketing campaign.
In South Korean tradition, “there’s an important emphasis for public officers to separate their official conduct from private issues”, stated Cho Ki-suk, professor of worldwide research at Ewha Womans College.
“It is arduous to see this Dior bag controversy as a gender difficulty. I believe Yoon will apologise over this ultimately, as a result of with out his apology, there is not a lot his occasion can do in election campaigning to win.”
