[News Today] CHARGES DROPPED FOR FIRST LADY

[LEAD]
The investigative team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has concluded its probe into first lady Kim Keon-hee's alleged receipt of a luxury bag, finding no grounds for charges. The office's chief will report these findings to the Prosecutor General today. The decision now hinges on whether an investigation review committee will be convened to assess the probe's appropriateness.

[REPORT]
At the order of Prosecutor General Lee One-seok, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office organized in May a team in charge of investigating the allegation that first lady Kim Keon-hee had received a luxury designer bag from a pastor.

Lee One-seok/ Prosecutor General (May)
The allegation will be investigated promptly and fairly in accordance with evidence and legal principles.

The prosecution acquitted the first lady after a four-month probe.

The investigators concluded that the luxury bag worth three-million-won or around 22-hundred dollars that first lady Kim Keon-hee had received from Pastor Choi Jae-young was irrelevant to presidential duties and the bag wasn't given in return for a favor, but simply as a way to meet her or express gratitude.

Pastor Choi supposedly had asked for a future burial of former U.S. House of Representatives member Jay Chang-joon Kim at the Korean national cemetery and his appointment to a government advisor post. These favors were considered irrelevant to presidential duties and were not communicated to her or carried out at all.

The prosecution is, therefore, likely to conclude that even President Yoon Suk Yeol wasn't obligated to report the bag as the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act stipulated.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief Lee Chang-soo is reporting the findings to Prosecutor General Lee One-seok on Thursday.

However, an investigation review committee could be convened to turn over the decision.

The Prosecutor General could call the committee by his official authority to deliberate on the relevance of the findings, but some speculate that it isn't very likely with only a month left in his term.

Lee One-seok/ Prosecutor General (Aug. 21)
(Do you plan to convene an investigation review committee for the first lady's case?) I have nothing to say today.

If the committee isn't called, the final decision will probably be made next week.

Pastor Choi said through a statement that he cannot understand the prosecution's conclusion to acquit her by denying duty relevance and not regarding his actions as solicitations.

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