Pressure mounting on Yoon to address first lady's bag scandal

 

A Gallup Korea poll on Friday showed that 63 per cent of South Korean people disapproved of Yoon's performance in the fourth week of January, up 5 percentage points from the week before. Yoon's disapproval rating has hit its highest point in nine months since April 2023, when his remarks suggested that the past during Japan's colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century, including forced labour conscription, should be left behind. His approval rating also came to 31 per cent, his lowest in three months.

Controversies surrounding Kim's alleged case of graft and Yoon's poor communication with the public were two of the three major reasons behind the public's disapproval of Yoon's performance, along with high costs of living, the latest poll indicated.

Yoon has reportedly been considering holding a televised interview with major TV network KBS, drawing speculations that Yoon could be either be preparing to explain his stance or give a public apology for the first lady's graft scandal.

KBS is currently headed by Park Min, whom the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has described as politically biased and characterized as Yoon's "long-time friend." This characterization emerged as soon as the former journalist, previously associated with the conservative local daily Munhwa Ilbo, who has no experience in TV operations, took charge of the broadcaster in November.

The presidential office has not confirmed any plans for Yoon's upcoming media exposure.

What angers the public is the fact that the Yoon administration claims to have been guided by the principles of "justice" and "common sense," an expert said.

Yoon, formerly the prosecutor general under the former Moon Jae-in administration, was suspended from his duties in November 2020 after he began investigating an academic credentials forgery scandal in Cho Kuk's family. Cho was Moon's former aide as well as the justice minister at the time. Yoon resigned from his position in March 2021 and was elected president approximately one year later.

"There have been times when South Korean presidents put their policy focus on 'reviving economic vitality' or 'creating a post-authoritarian society.' Yoon prioritized the principles of 'justice and common sense,' so that every person in power, no matter how large, should be treated as he or she deserved," said Eom Ki-hong, a political science professor at Kyungpook National University.

"Now, what has happened is he is going against his core values."

This turn of events comes as footage of Kim receiving a Christian Dior luxury handbag was revealed by news outlet Voice of Seoul in November. The outlet filmed Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young buying the handbag worth 3 million won at a Dior store and gifting the bag to Kim in Sept. 2022. Voice of Seoul sued Kim for the allegation of having accepted graft in December based on the filmed occasion.

South Korea 2016 began to criminalize graft -- defined as any gift that does not necessarily come in exchange for a powerful person's favour (whereas a gift in exchange for a favour is defined legally as a bribe). Under the anti-graft law, also known as the Kim Young-ran Law, a public servant might face up to three years of imprisonment or a 30 million won fine if his or her spouse was caught receiving graft worth over 1 million won.

In the same news outlet in December was ordered to pay 10 million won -- in a ruling upheld by a high court -- for secretly recording multiple phone calls in 2021 with Kim without Kim's consent and revealing it to the public in January 2022, during which Yoon was vying for the presidency. Kim had sought 100 million won in compensation.

Moreover, pastor Choi claimed that he had seen Kim use her power to interfere in state affairs without authorization, at a press conference in the National Assembly on Jan. 22.

PPP divided

The First Lady's Dior handbag graft controversy began making headlines here after the issue triggered a party divide in the ruling People Power Party.

Some pro-Yoon faction lawmakers believed a public apology could bring about a bigger political disaster at a critical time when the general election is less than three months away.

Pro-Yoon lawmakers, including Rep. Lee Chul-gyu and Rep. Lee Yong of the conservative People Power Party, have argued that the First Lady fell prey to illegal filming and therefore did not need to apologize. These arguments came in response to liberal civic activist-turned-conservative Kim Kyung-yul's argument that First Lady Kim needs to "open up about the issue."

The differing views over the first lady within the party invited a new controversy over whether the conservative party's interim leader Han Dong-hoon had abused his power to favor the ex-activist over others in choosing who to run for a seat in a constituency in Mapo-gu, Seoul against seasoned lawmaker Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Han revealed that Yoon's office had asked him to resign from the party's interim leader post on Jan. 22 -- a request that he rejected. This apparent conflict between Yoon and Han, who had worked together as public prosecutors for two decades, showed signs of easing after both of them visited a market badly damaged in a fire in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, and met there.

"A public statement from Yoon over (first lady's graft scandal) is unlikely to trigger a rebound in his approval rating, but it at least could stop the situation from getting worse (for the time being)," said Lee Jun-han, professor of political science at Incheon National University.

A statement by the president in any form could prompt a series of calls for more public apologies over additional allegations of the First Lady's wrongdoing that have been mounting. For example, Yoon vetoed a bill in early January to enable the majority-opposition National Assembly to launch a special investigation into Kim's alleged involvement in stock manipulation, as law enforcement did not find evidence that the first lady was involved in a white-collar crime dating back a decade.

Still, a timely explanation will be crucial for the Yoon administration, he said.

"(Yoon's office) has been procrastinating," Lee said. "(Further procrastination) will prompt a situation in which Yoon will not be able to escape from trouble by any means."

Eom of Kyungpook National University said the graft case holds significance given that the incident happened after Yoon came to office, unlike other allegations surrounding Kim, as well as surrounding her mother, who is currently serving a jail term over document forgery concerning a property transaction.

"Previously, (the opposition bloc) has taken issues with Kim's past deeds. The handbag issue is the only one that happened after Yoon's term began," Eom said.

Family matters

Few South Korean Presidents have been immune to corruption scandals stemming from the misconduct of their family members or close friends, since the early 1990s -- when decades of military regime control gave way to democratic government. These incidents were often ominous causes of sweeping political scandals, one of which even led to the impeachment of a president, as seen in conservative ex-President Park Geun-hye's case.

However, no president has yet to provide an explanation to the public about the controversy involving their spouse.

Before Yoon came into office, Moon was the only president who had escaped any scandal over the alleged misdeeds of family members. A legal fight is underway over whether "special activity expenses" of the presidential office during Moon's term should be disclosed to see if the expenses were for unauthorized clothing purchases by Moon's wife, Kim Jung-sook. An appellate ruling is scheduled for Thursday.

Son Ji-hyoung

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network