PPP pushes for probe into former first lady's trip to India

A lawmaker from the People Power Party (PPP) submitted a bill on Monday to establish a special counsel probe into suspicions that former first lady Kim Jung-sook used her position to join an official trip to India during her husband's presidency.

In this photo taken on Nov. 7, 2018, then-first lady Kim Jung-sook, second from left, smiles as she poses for a photograph in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India alongside then-Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan, second from right. Shin Bong-gil, Korea's ambassador to India at the time, is on the far right, while his wife Hwang Mee-sook sits on the far left. [BLUE HOUSE]

A lawmaker from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) submitted a bill on Monday to establish a special counsel probe into suspicions that former first lady Kim Jung-sook used her position to join an official trip to India during the presidency of her husband Moon Jae-in.

The proposal by Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun to appoint a special counsel to investigate the former first lady came three days after the liberal Democratic Party (DP), which controls a 175-seat majority in the National Assembly, announced it plans to push for another bill to set up a special counsel probe into various misconduct allegations against current first lady Kim Keon Hee.

At a press conference held at the National Assembly on Monday, Yoon said the proposed special counsel probe was intended to examine a “broad swath of suspicions” surrounding former first lady Kim, whom the PPP has accused of undertaking a personal trip to India in November 2018 under the guise of an official visit.

According to PPP Rep. Park Soo-young, documents sent from the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to the Foreign Ministry showed the trip to India was originally organized for then-Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan, but was later substantially altered to accommodate Kim’s visit to the country around the same time.

In the original itinerary included in the Culture Ministry’s request for logistical assistance from the Foreign Ministry, Do was scheduled to take Korean Air flight KE481 to Delhi on Nov. 4, 2018 and return to Seoul aboard Asiana flight OZ768 on Nov. 7.

The culture minister’s schedule included the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Indian tourism and sports ministries on Nov. 5, followed by the opening of a park to commemorate a legendary Korean queen from India and a Diwali celebration on Nov. 6.

But according to Park, the Blue House requested and obtained Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to Kim on Oct. 26 that set up a pretext for her to travel to the country at the same time as Do.

With Kim added to Do’s official trip to India eight days before his scheduled departure, the delegation was allowed to use Air Force Two — a Boeing 737-300 usually reserved for the president and top government officials — at a cost of 230 million won ($167,300) for catering services provided by Korean Air Lines.

The presidential plane also made a stopover in Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, on Nov. 7, a day that originally had no official appointments scheduled.

Official photos released by the Blue House after the visit showed Kim smiling while seated on a bench in front of the white-domed mausoleum alongside Do, then-Korean Ambassador to India Shin Bong-il and Shin’s wife Hwang Mee-sook.

Citing the documents obtained by his office and Park, Yoon accused the former first lady of “inviting herself on a government trip so that she could travel to a tourist site on her bucket list at the expense of taxpayers” and said the allegations, if true, constituted “blatant interference in state affairs.”

But the DP, whose previous bill to investigate Kim Keon Hee was vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol in January, called the PPP lawmaker’s proposal for a special counsel probe into Kim Jung-sook a “farce” intended to distract from the accusations against the current first lady.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]