Prosecution committee recommends to drop charges against first lady over Dior bag acceptance

A panel under South Korea's top prosecutors office on Friday has advised not to indict first lady Kim Keon Hee over allegations that she broke the country's antigraft law by accepting a luxury Christian Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,248) from a Korean American pastor in 2022.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Investigation Review Committee, consisting of 15 outside experts, held the meeting from 2 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. to deliberate whether she is guilty of six different accusations made against her, including breaches of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and the Attorney-at-Law Act, as well as the abuse of authority and attempting to destroy evidence.

The committee's recommendation upholds the decision announced by an investigative team under Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office last month, which decided to drop the six charges against the first lady after a four-month probe. They concluded that the bag was given as a gift by pastor Choi Jae-young as an expression of gratitude to the first lady and said it was not related to President Yoon Suk Yeol's official duties.

Despite the outcome of the monthslong investigation, Prosecutor General Lee One-seok decided to refer the case to the outside panel, to "ensure fairness of the results."

The committee reviewed a 30-page affidavit submitted by Kim, her attorney and the prosecution team that carried out the monthslong investigation, during the meeting. The prosecution team at the central office and Kim's attorney were present during Friday's meeting.

Choi, who has repeatedly claimed that the luxury bag was handed to Kim in the hope of receiving favors from the administration, was not summoned to the committee's meeting, despite his continued requests to join.

Of the total 16 committee reviews held so far, since the system was adopted by the prosecution in 2015, the panel has overturned the prosecutors' earlier decisions nine times. All 16 reviews were focused on politically sensitive issues.

By law, prosecutors are not obligated to comply with the panel's decision and are only required to respect the meeting's results.

In November 2023, local media outlet Voice of Seoul published on its YouTube channel a video showing Choi handing over the Dior handbag to Kim during a September 2022 meeting in Seoul. The pastor reportedly filmed the exchange with a camera hidden in a watch, and the handbag was provided by Voice of Seoul.

It was later revealed that Kim had accepted the gift through a statement released by the presidential office and the ruling party saying bag was "being managed and stored as a property of the government."

Meanwhile, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party the previous day floated a new version of a bill that mandates a special counsel investigation into several existing allegations against the first lady.

The previous version of the bill, which called for a probe into the stock manipulation allegations against Kim, was vetoed by Yoon in January this year after the opposition-led 21st National Assembly session passed the legislation.

The latest version added an investigation into a recent report made by a local media outlet that she inappropriately interfered with the ruling People Power Party's candidate nominations ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections.

According to the report released Thursday, Kim had made a request to then-five-term lawmaker Rep. Kim Young-sun to run in a different constituency for the election via Telegram message.

On Thursday, a local media outlet reported that Kim had sent a Telegram message to then-five-term lawmaker Rep. Kim Young-sun telling her to run in a different constituency ahead of the April 10 general elections, sparking controversy over the first lady's inappropriate interference in the elections and party affairs.

An official at the presidential office, who declined to be named, indirectly denied the reports, telling reporters that "it is the party that makes decisions regarding the candidate nomination process."

Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Chan-dae questioned the presidential office's claims during the party's Supreme Council meeting held Friday, and called for the need for the Assembly the pass the bill. The ruling party then denounced the main opposition in a statement, calling the accusations "totally groundless."