A scandal involving the president’s spouse has become a major issue for his party ahead of a crucial parliamentary election.
The president was grappling with a slowing economy, a deadly crowd crush and nuclear threats from a belligerent neighbor. Then came a much more personal scandal: spy cam footage that showed his wife accepting a $2,200 Dior pouch as a gift.
It has quickly escalated into one of the biggest political crises for President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, who has made his mark in foreign policy by aligning his country more closely with the United States and Japan but has been bogged down by controversies at home, many of them involving the first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
It has quickly escalated into one of the biggest political crises for President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, who has made his mark in foreign policy by aligning his country more closely with the United States and Japan but has been bogged down by controversies at home, many of them involving the first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
Unlike past first ladies, who typically remained in the shadow of their husband, she has reveled in media attention and even publicly pushed Mr. Yoon’s government to ban the breeding and butchering of dogs for human consumption.
During that meeting, Mr. Choi said that he overheard a conversation in which Ms. Kim appeared to be playing a role in the appointment of a senior government official.
In the video, Ms. Kim also expressed her desire to “involve myself actively in South-North Korean relations,” raising fears that she was overstepping her role.
Some officials from Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party have accused Mr. Choi of setting a “trap” for Ms. Kim and timing the release of the video to influence the April election.
“This is an explosive issue” because it reminds South Koreans of the recurring corruption that has disgraced most of the country’s former presidents, said Ahn Byong-jin, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
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