South Korea has opened an investigation into accusations that taxpayers funded former first lady Kim Jung-sook’s 2018 trip to India’s Taj Mahal as the opposition vowed to keep up pressure on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife after she was cleared of wrongdoing in a luxury handbag scandal.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it would pursue a complaint filed against Kim by a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) to determine if the visit involved abuse of power and public money.
Kim’s jaunt attracted renewed scrutiny after her husband Moon Jae-in shed light on why she travelled to India in his memoir published last month.
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited me to return to India for the opening of the Heo Hwang-ok Memorial Park, but it was difficult for me to visit India again,” Moon wrote, referring to the ancient queen.
“So I declined, and India then asked me to send my wife instead,” he said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (middle) and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) ride a train to Samsung Electronics’ factory in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh, in 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE
The former president called the tour as “the first stand-alone diplomacy by a first lady”, adding he decided to break his silence about the incident to rebut critics who “distort the facts as if my wife went on a junket using taxpayer money”.
But that explanation failed to convince the PPP which has maintained the 400 million won (US$290,506) trip was organised to fulfil Kim’s wish to see the ivory-coloured marble mausoleum in northern India’s Agra.
The party also sought a special counsel to investigate allegations surrounding Kim, a move the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) denounced as politically motivated and demanded a similar probe into incumbent first lady Kim Keon-hee for inappropriately receiving a US$2,200 Dior handbag from a Korean-American pastor in 2022.
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South Korean president Yoon defends wife over Dior bag scandal
South Korean president Yoon defends wife over Dior bag scandal
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on Monday the closure of the case against Yoon’s wife, citing a lack of legal provisions to hold spouses of elected public officials accountable.
The opposition said the decision was “disastrous” and questioned the agency’s impartiality, The Korea Herald reported.
“The DPK will swiftly push for a special counsel probe into cases involving Kim to prevent her from running away,” lawmaker Yoon Jong-kun said, referring to other allegations faced by her that included tax evasion.
Prosecutor general Lee One-seok said on Tuesday his department would continue the investigation into the handbag saga and determine why the anti-corruption agency dismissed the case.
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