South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s political future hangs in the balance following his failed attempt to impose Martial Law on Tuesday, but the South Korean president has already faced calls for his resignation this year. As her popularity plummeted – largely due to a designer handbag.
Yoon’s wife, first lady Kim Keon Hee, was accused last year of accepting a $2,200 Christian Dior bag as a gift — a possible violation of South Korea’s anti-corruption law, which prohibits public officials and their spouses from receive gifts worth more than US$750 in connection with their public functions.
The controversy began in November last year, when a secretly filmed video was published online, allegedly showing Kim receiving a calfskin “Lady Dior bag” from a Korean-American pastor, Choi Jae-young.
“Why do you keep bringing this up? Please, you don’t have to do this,” the first lady is heard saying in the video upon receiving the gift. The footage does not show her picking up Choi’s bag, although a Dior shopping bag is seen placed on a coffee table as they continue their conversation.
Last month, authorities decided not to charge the first lady over allegations of improperly accepting gifts, including the handbag, Yonhap news agency reported, citing Seoul prosecutors.
But Yoon’s response to the controversy has struck a chord with his public standing. The president claimed the video was a “political stunt” aimed at influencing the midterm elections – which the opposition won by a landslide, widely seen as a referendum on his government.
This content was originally published in South Korea: Remember the Dior bag scandal that generated a political crisis on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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