South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law during his televised address on Tuesday night sent shockwaves across the country and around the world. Although a few hours later he decided to take back his decision, the reactions both from his own party, as well as from the opposition parties and from the people have led him to the edge of the cliff.

Amid this political turmoil, however, attention has also turned to First Lady Kim Keon-hee, who has faced numerous accusations in recent years, from stock manipulation to accepting a luxury Dior bag. At the same time, he has been accused of exerting a strong influence on President Yun’s decisions.

Kim, now 52, ​​lost her father when she was still in high school while her mother was tried and subsequently acquitted of running an unlicensed nursing home from 2013 to 2015 and is currently serving a one-year sentence for fraud. in real estate after being sentenced in 2023.

Since 2009, Kim has been the CEO and president of the media company Conava Contents and has been accused of corruption, prompting Yoon to attempt to protect her by granting her legal immunity from prosecution.

In particular, in 2019 there were several charges against her for non-payment of taxes. He was also under investigation on charges of taking kickbacks for hosting exhibitions.

In 2011 she came under fire for gross inaccuracies on her resume accusing her of exaggerating or falsifying her credentials. Then he publicly apologized.

In 2022 she was accused of plagiarism in her academic writings. From 2020-2024 Kim was in the middle of a controversy accused of participating in a 63.6 billion stock manipulation scheme. won (about $62 million). However, she was not charged due to a lack of sufficient evidence of her involvement.

The Dior bag controversy

A video released earlier this year showed Kim receiving a Dior bag and other luxury items from a Korean-American pastor named Abraham Koi that raised concerns about possible violations of the law, which prohibits public officials from and their spouses to receive gifts worth more than $750.

“Why do you keep bringing these up? Please, you don’t have to do this,” the First Lady is heard saying in the video.

Koi, who said Kim was a family acquaintance of his, said at the time that he sought a meeting with Kim to express his concern about Yun’s tough policy toward North Korea. Her reaction to their conversations about possible lavish gifts – including Chanel cosmetics that he claimed he gave her when they first met – led him to believe that such gifts were the only way to get her to listen to him.

“You could say it was like an entry pass, a ticket to meet (with Kim),” Coy told Reuters in an interview.

Dismissing the allegations, Yun claimed that the video of his wife was a “political maneuver”. However, the scandal caused turmoil in Yun’s party. Last January, tensions between Yun’s office and his party came to a head when a member of his leadership, Kim Kyung-yul, likened the situation to the case of “Marie Antoinette,” the last queen of France before the French Revolution, known for its excess.

Local media reports said Yun was furious and wanted to carve out party leader Han Dong-hun, marking at least a temporary rift between the president and an official widely seen as a protégé. of the former and his close associate.