Luxury Bag Scandal: Will the First Lady Face Punishment?

A team has been formed to investigate the luxury bag allegations, but legal experts say punishment is unlikely due to the absence of laws against public officials’ spouses.

A full-time team has been officially formed to investigate the allegations that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s spouse, Kim Keon Hee, accepted a luxury bag. The informant’s investigation is expected to take place this month.

The investigation into the allegations against Ms. Kim Keon Hee has officially begun, drawing significant attention to the outcome.

According to legal circles, on the 7th, one prosecutor each from the 3rd Anti-Corruption Investigation Department, the Crime Proceeds Recovery Department, and the Fair Trade Investigation Department under the fourth deputy chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office joined the investigation team handling Ms. Kim Keon Hee’s luxury bag case at the Criminal 1 Department (headed by Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung Ho).

The prosecutors who joined the investigation team all have around ten years of experience and are composed of those who have investigated local government heads and politicians’ spouses.

Prosecutor General Lee Won Seok has promised a swift and stern investigation into the allegations against Ms. Kim Keon Hee. He stated that the frontline investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office will conduct a swift and stern investigation and disposition based solely on evidence and legal principles. He also asked for patience while the investigation progressed.

One prosecution official said that the prosecutors who joined the investigation team appear to have been borrowed from other departments due to a lack of personnel in the Criminal Department.

The team, which is proceeding with the investigation, plans to soon summon Baek Eun Jong, the representative of Seoul’s Voice, as the informant.

The investigation was initially scheduled for the 9th for a swift investigation, but it is currently being adjusted as the representative, Baek Eun Jong, requested a postponement of the investigation date.

The controversy centers on an incident from last November, when Pastor Choi Jae Young, a Korean-American, exposed Ms. Kim Keon Hee for receiving a luxury bag worth about $2,500 in September 2022 after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s inauguration.

According to the released video, Pastor Choi Jae Young appears to have recorded the scene of exchanging the bag with a hidden camera attached to his wristwatch.

The gift and the hidden camera were confirmed to have been prepared by Seoul’s Voice. After the video was released, Representative Baek Eun Jong filed a complaint against President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, who were charged with violating the Anti-Graft Law in December last year. In the legal sector, it is believed that punishing Ms. Kim Keon Hee is complicated based on the current circumstances. The critical issue in the investigation of Representative Baek Eun Jong is to prove the relevance of the luxury handbag received by Ms.Kim Keon Hee to her duties.

There is no provision to punish a public official’s spouse in the Prohibition of Solicitation Act, so the First Lady is not considered a subject of the Public Official Ethics Act. Therefore, it is expected that Ms. Kim Keon Hee will not be punished just because she received a luxury handbag. However, suppose clear evidence is recognized that Pastor Choi Jae Young provided benefits or favors to Ms. Kim Keon Hee. In that case, she could be punished.d Even if Ms. Kim Keon Hee is punished, it is more likely to be for bribery or embezzlement, not for violating the Anti-Graft Law. According to the video released by Seoul’s Voice, Ms. Kim Keon Hee said, “Once the attention towards me subsides, I plan to engage in the North-South issue actively,” and “The Yoon Suk Yeol government will do well, leading to unification, so our country will grow, and our pastor will have a big job to do with me.” However, no evidence or allegations of providing any returns or favors have surfaced since, making it likely that the investigation will focus on finding such claims or evidence.

Additionally, it is believed that the investigation into the luxury handbag allegations is likely to be conducted in conjunction with the investigation into the stock price manipulation case involving Deutsche Motors. Suppose Ms. Kim Keon Hee is not found guilty. In that case, regulations allow for the punishment of public officials who are aware of their spouses receiving money related to their duties and fail to report it properly to the head of the institution, potentially making President Yoon Suk Yeol subject to punishment.T herefore, whether President Yoon Suk Yeol knew about Ms. Kim Keon Hee’s handbag receipt and reported it correctly is another vital issue in this investigation. The prosecution authorities are reportedly reviewing how to interpret the reporting requirement in a situation where President Yoon Suk Yeol, the agency’s head.

A legal expert stated that it seems more likely that Pastor Choi Jae Young would be punished than Mrs. Kim Keon Hee due to the difficulty in proving the allegations. Under current law, there is a provision to punish those who provide money to a public official’s spouse. If Pastor Choi Jae Young is punished, he could face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $24,000. Meanwhile, some argue that since a couple is legally considered an economic community, the First Lady could be an accomplice in bribery. Under current law, the corruption of a president is a comprehensive bribery crime, which broadly recognizes relevance to duties, so it is argued that corruption could be established. Moreover, it has been reported that Prosecutor General Lee Won Seok had a conflict with the presidential office by emphasizing the need to directly investigate the stock price manipulation allegations involving Ms. Kim Keon Hee. Five months after the complaint, the Prosecutor General practically directed a public investigation, speculated to be a message that Prosecutor General Lee Won Seok was going his way regardless of the regime.