Dior scandal pressure on S Korean leader

SOUTH KOREA’S president is under mounting pressure after his wife was filmed accepting a Dior handbag from a pastor known for advocating closer ties with the nuclear-armed North.

Hidden camera footage of Kim Keonhee appearing to accept the $2,250 (£1,750) designer item as a gift has been nicknamed the “Dior bag scandal” by local media. The scandal threatens to undermine the bid by Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) to win a majority in the national parliament in an upcoming April election.

Some members of his party have urged the president and his wife to apologise for the incident and admit receiving the purse was, at least, inappropriate, in the hope of putting the matter to rest. Mr Yoon was mulling whether to personally address the issue in a television interview, according to the Yonhap news agency. It was reported the president was planning to stress Ms Kim was the victim of a political ploy and criminal act of hidden camera filming. His office told The Telegraph it had no further information to share.

The accusations first surfaced in November when a Youtube channel broadcast a secret recording of Rev Abraham Choi, a Korean American pastor, offering Ms Kim the handbag during a meeting in September 2022. Rev Choi, who advocates for greater engagement with North Korea, claimed he had initially sought to air his concerns on Mr Yoon’s hardline policy towards Pyongyang. He said an earlier discussion with Ms Kim about possible luxury gifts had led him to believe such offerings could help secure audiences with the first lady. After a first meeting, the Rev Choi said he became concerned about her role in the administration and worked with a reporter at the Youtube channel, which airs Left-wing news and commentary, to film her accepting the pricey bag during a second visit.

“You might say they [gifts] were like an entry pass, a ticket for a meeting [with Kim],” the Rev Choi told Reuters.

Local media quoted an unnamed presidential official as saying gifts to the couple are handled and stored as property of the government. But the escalating affair has drawn flak not only from opposition politicians but also from within Mr Yoon’s own PPP.

Han Dong-hoon, the party leader, said while the video footage was a premeditated “hidden camera trap”, there were “aspects that the people could be worried about”. Last week, Kim Kyungyul, another party leadership figure, drew parallels with Marie Antoinette, the extravagant French queen.