President Yoon first talks about first lady’s luxury bag scandal, but without apology

President Yoon watches a recording of “KBS Sindae-dam” with KBS anchor Park Jang-beom at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Thursday. Courtesy of the presidential office

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on January 7 that it is “regrettable and first lady Kim Keon-hee’s fault that she failed to coldly reject a visitor” who was armed with a hidden camera and gifted a luxury bag. It was the first time that Yoon officially talked about Kim’s allegations of receiving a gift from a Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young in 2022. In a special New Year’s interview with KBS, Yoon said he thinks “the incident is a political maneuver as the pastor recorded the situation with a hidden camera in his watch.”

Yoon added, “At that time, we did not stay in the official residence, but in our private residence, and she also had an office in the basement, and he kept saying he would visit there so…”

Yoon explained, “It was before we moved to the official residence in Yongsan," adding, "My wife's office was in the basement, and we couldn’t install a body scanner there to search for such cameras because it would block the corridor and cause great inconvenience to the residents.”

He also said, "My wife's father passed away when she was a teenager and she kept in touch with the pastor as he and her father were from the same place. It’s very difficult for a president and a first lady to give their acquaintances the cold shoulder after taking office. It is regrettable that my wife failed to be hard on him. But it is not easy for me, either.”

Yoon continued, "It would have been better if she had told me about the situation in advance. I still have the personality that I acquired from 26 years of inspection work, so I would have treated it a little more firmly, but I think it was difficult for my wife to reject his visit because of the various circumstances."

“It's still too short a time to explain this in detail to the people," Yoon said, adding, "The people may want me to explain it in detail in my own words, but there could also be negative results that it could create."

As for the future response, Yoon said, “Now we are staying at the official residence with tight management, and we will try to be careful so that the people do not misunderstand, feel anxious, or worried."

Yoon also said, "I think it's a political maneuver because pastor Choi filmed his visit with a hidden camera in his watch. It should be considered a political maneuver because the video was released ahead of the upcoming general election.” He added, "It's not important to say that it's a political maneuver, but it's important to draw a clearer line to prevent such things from happening in the future.”

Regarding the appointment of a special inspector and the resurgence of the Office of the First Lady, Yoon said, "From the beginning of my term, the special inspector is selected and sent by the National Assembly, and the presidential office follows the decisions. In the case of the Office of the First Lady, the presidential office is currently reviewing it.” He added, "However, I think it doesn't seem to help prevent this kind of incident from happening. Even if there was the Office of the First Lady, my wife’s acquaintances would come to see her after notifying her of their visits as she could not reject them. The Office of the First Lady will be of no use if she fails to reject their visits properly.”

In response to the interviewer’s question, "Did they have a fight with your wife?" Yoon answered, "Not at all.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.