Photo: South Korea’s first lady Kim Gun-hee’s acceptance of a brand-name bag sparked huge controversy. \File photo

[Ta Kung Pao News]According to Yonhap News Agency: Kim Gun-hee, wife of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, was reported to have accepted brand-name bags, sparking huge controversy. On the 10th, the National Rights Commission, South Korea’s anti-corruption agency, made a decision that Kim Gun-hee had “no illegal behavior” and announced the case was closed.

On the 10th, Zheng Shengyun, vice chairman and director of the affairs department of the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea, held a press conference at the Sejong Office Building of the Central Government to announce the results of the review of the case reported by Kim Gun-hee by the plenary meeting of the committee. Zheng Shengyun said that the “Law on Prohibition of Accepting Improper Requests and Property” (referred to as the “Anti-Corruption Law”) does not involve the punishment of the spouses of public officials, so the plenary meeting of the committee determined that Kim Gun-hee had no illegal behavior and decided to close the case.

Before the result of this case was announced, South Korean public opinion generally believed that Kim Gun-hee would not be punished. A person related to the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in South Korea, said earlier that if the person reported was Kim Hye-kyung, the wife of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, then she would most likely be summoned and prosecuted, “If there is no summons against Ms. Kim Gun-hee, it is better not to investigate.”

South Korean media “Voice of Seoul” previously disclosed that Kim Gun-hee received brand-name perfumes and cosmetics from American pastor Choi Jae-young (sound) in June 2022, and received a brand-name bag worth 3 million won (about 17,000 Hong Kong dollars) in September of the same year. On December 19 last year, the civic group “Participation Solidarity” reported Yoon Seok-yeol, Kim Gun-hee and Choi Jae-young to the National Human Rights Commission. On May 9 this year, Yoon Seok-yeol apologized for the first time for Kim Gun-hee’s acceptance of a brand-name bag and admitted that Kim Gun-hee had made an “unwise move.”