South Korea’s first lady looms over husband’s embattled presidency

The wife of South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol is seen as the driving force behind his martial law declaration. Yoon apologised on Saturday for his shock if brief move but still faces possible impeachment.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has described claims against first lady Kim Keon-hee as fabricated. Picture: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

As South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol fights for his political life following his decision this week to declare martial law, one person looms over the scandals that have engulfed his presidency: his wife.

Yoon is facing an impeachment vote in South Korea’s parliament Saturday for his decision to declare martial law. But it isn’t the only bill on the docket. The other one greenlights a special prosecutorial investigation into Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee.

Their intertwined fates aren’t coincidental. Yoon’s popularity sank as the first lady’s public woes rose. In a recent poll, the South Korean leader’s approval rating sank to 17 per cent. The top factor for the dissatisfaction was Kim – whom critics have called Yoon’s “Achilles’ heel” and “Marie Antoinette” owing to her taste in luxury brands.

Opposition lawmakers, in their impeachment motion, dismissed Yoon’s own national-security rationale for seeking emergency powers. Instead, they cited Yoon’s desire to “evade investigations into criminal allegations involving President Yoon and his family.”

Three times Yoon has vetoed opposition-led legislative efforts to establish a special counsel to investigate Kim in relation to allegations including stock manipulation, bribery and unlawful involvement in party-candidate nominations. At a rare news conference last month, he denied that the moves were done out of support for his wife. Rather, Yoon said, the investigations should be blocked because the allegations were politically motivated.

Kim, in many ways, is South Korea’s Rorschach test for drivers behind the country’s blistering political divide: Is she an easy target cynically exploited by opposition lawmakers? Or is shielding her from legal scrutiny proof that Yoon has given priority to family over country?

“Kim isn’t your typical first lady, and has faced an outsized amount of scrutiny and criticism compared to other presidential wives,” said Park Sung-min, who heads a political-consulting firm in Seoul. “In any case, Kim certainly became a weak link for President Yoon’s political career.”

Yoon hasn’t spoken publicly about his rationale for declaring martial law beyond his televised addresses. South Korea’s presidential office declined to comment. A lawyer for Kim didn’t have immediate comment.

Nearly three-quarters of South Koreans back impeaching Yoon after his declaration of martial order, according to a recent poll.

South Korea’s first lady Kim Keon-hee is hailed for her stylish wardrobe choices and youthful looks. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Dior bag

Yoon and Kim had married late in life and don’t have any children. They post frequent online photos with their dogs and cats from their residence at South Korea’s presidential compound.

Though Kim had controversies while Yoon was on the campaign trail, she enjoyed some positive public perception.

The 52-year-old first lady was hailed for her stylish wardrobe choices, her youthful looks and her successful art-exhibit business before becoming first lady.

A $US160 eco-friendly tote bag made out of vegan leather sold out online after Kim was photographed holding one during Yoon’s state visit to Abu Dhabi.

A separate online fan club for the first lady attracted more than 80,000 fans and uploaded a Wonder Woman movie poster with Kim’s face.

“The enemy of the country is the Democratic Party,” the poster reads.

Critics call South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s wife Kim Keon-hee his Achilles’ heel. Picture: Jung Yeon-Je/Press Pool

The 63-year-old Yoon, a career prosecutor who never held public office before winning the presidency in 2022, was never widely popular. But his downturn picked up steam in January, when a scandal involving his wife’s acceptance of a $2,200 Dior handbag became public. Yoon refused to apologise. His image as an uncompromising prosecutor who plays by the books was damaged.

Kim became an effective vessel to attack Yoon in the areas his critics felt were his weak points, said Young-Im Lee, of California State University, Sacramento, who focuses on gender politics in South Korea, the U.S. and elsewhere.

“Opponents talk a lot about Kim because it is a way to show how non-communicative and unaccountable Yoon is,” Prof. Lee said. “Shielding his wife from investigation confirmed what kind of leader he is.” This year, the opposition party, which controls the National Assembly, has passed three separate bills to launch a special counsel to probe a variety of allegations involving the first lady. Yoon vetoed them each time.

The incidents the counsel seeks to probe include Kim and her mother’s involvement as a financier in the alleged stock-price manipulation of a local auto-dealer firm, and Kim’s breach of antigraft laws in receiving the Dior bag – both cases where the prosecution chose not to press charges.

The counsel also seeks to investigate older allegations, such as Kim’s potential role in moving the presidential compound to a new location.

“The law must be applied fairly,” said Lee Jae-mook, a political-science professor at South Korea’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“The public may feel it’s hypocritical for Yoon to aggressively crack down on his opponents’ wrongdoings, yet defend his wife’s scandals.”

Apology

What began to change in recent months was Yoon facing heat over his wife’s scandals from his own ranks.

The head of the ruling People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, backed the appointment of a special inspector to look into the allegations against Kim and demanded Yoon halt the first lady’s public appearances. Last month, Han called on Yoon to issue a public apology.

Days later, Yoon held a televised news conference, standing up, bowing deeply and apologising for his wife’s “indiscreet” behaviour. He promised to fully suspend the first lady’s public activities and create a new office to oversee her schedule.

A special counsel is probing the South Korean first lady’s alleged role in moving the presidential compound offices from the traditional Blue House, above at rear behind a royal palace, in Seoul.

But he drew the line at a special counsel, calling it “unconstitutional” and “inappropriate.” The claims against the first lady, Yoon said, were “exaggerated and even fabricated.” He cited the past investigative efforts to find charges to prosecute his wife which didn’t materialise. Therefore, further pursuit would no longer be judicial action, Yoon said, but rather political propaganda.

In recent days, Han challenged Yoon again, calling the move to declare martial law unconstitutional. Then, on Friday, Han said Yoon’s presidential powers should be taken away, given his failure to admit wrongdoing and the potential to do something extreme, such as declare martial law again.

Yoon has also lost popularity due to a sluggish economy, soaring housing prices and controversial personnel choices. His proposal to boost the nation’s medical ranks has led to thousands of doctors going on strike since February. Yoon cited a stalled budget proposal and frequent attempts by opposition lawmakers to impeach his top officials as motives for declaring martial law.

But Kim’s perceived ambitions and control over Yoon have fed into what is a familiar narrative for South Koreans, who recall the impeachment, then eventual ouster in 2017 of former president Park Geun-hye. Park also had a close friend exerting undue influence behind the scenes.

“People seem to perceive the first lady having similar influence on Yoon, ” said Joan Cho, an East Asian studies and government professor at Wesleyan University.

– Soobin Kim contributed to this article.

Dow Jones Newswires