Panel decision put prosecution in dilemma over Dior bag case

First lady Kim Keon Hee (center) is seen disembarking from the Air Force One after President Yoon Suk Yeol's return to Seoul after his trip to the Czech Republic on Sunday. (Yonhap)

South Korea's prosecution is facing a dilemma over the high-profile luxury Dior bag case involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, as the investigation review committee for the nation's top prosecution body gave the upper hand to the pastor who wishes to be indicted in the graft case in hopes of bringing the first lady to the court.

A 15-member independent review committee for the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Tuesday night recommended that Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young be indicted for his alleged violation of South Korea's antigraft law by gifting luxury goods worth a combined 5 million won ($3,760) -- including a Christian Dior bag worth 3 million won -- to Kim in September 2022.

The prosecution is not required to follow the committee's recommendation; however, since the establishment of the investigation review committee in 2018, the prosecution has never rejected a recommendation from the committee to indict an individual. If the prosecution chooses to indict Choi while not pursuing charges against Kim, as the committee suggested, it would create a contradictory situation in which the person who offered the graft is taken to court, but the recipient of such graft is not.

Separately, the same committee had previously recommended not to indict the first lady over the case on Sept. 6.

Choi told reporters Wednesday that the prosecution will now have no choice but to charge him with the crime, which will inevitably follow a renewed investigation of Kim, as well as criminal punishment for Kim's spouse, President Yoon Suk Yeol.

"The prosecution will not leave me unindicted," Choi said as he appeared at a police station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul to be interrogated.

"Public anger toward Kim has intensified. ... The (findings) about my violation of the antigraft law will lead to Yoon's punishment for his failure to report to the authorities (his spouse's) gifts after learning about them," Choi added.

The committee's decision largely resonated with Choi's argument that his gifts were meant to influence Yoon in connection to the latter's duty of personnel appointments.

Choi's legal representative, who was present at the review committee meeting, reportedly described the Dior bag case as "a perplexing situation in which the accused admits his crime while the prosecution denies his crime."

 

Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young speaks to reporters at a police station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

Choi is accused of giving gifts to a public official's spouse in connection with the official's duties. He faces other charges including defamation of the first lady, and entering someone else's property without permission, among others.

While South Korea's Improper Solicitation and Graft Act -- also known as the Kim Young-ran law after a former Supreme Court justice -- dictates in Article 8 that no spouse of a public servant shall "accept, request or promise to receive any money, goods, etc. exceeding one million won at a time or three million won in a fiscal year from the same person" in connection with that public servant's duties, it does not stipulate the prosecution of the spouse. This latter argument was the basis for the same review committee's unanimous recommendation on Sept. 6 that Kim not be indicted.

The same law states that a public official in violation of Article 8 is subject to criminal punishment, specifically "imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won." But Yoon is currently practically immune to such prosecution because, according to the Constitution, which overrides other laws, South Korea's head of state shall not be charged with a criminal offense during his tenure except in cases of insurrection or treason.

Rep. Kang Yu-jung, floor spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, urged the prosecution to accept Tuesday's recommendation by the committee and put both Choi and Kim on trial, per the intention of the antigraft act in South Korea to punish both the giver and the taker of graft, she said in a statement Wednesday.

All eyes are on whether newly-appointed Prosecutor-General Shim Woo-jung, who took office on Sept. 19 and has the final say about the case, will follow precedent or reject the recommendation.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which currently handles the case, said in a statement after the investigation review committee's decision that it would take into account the recommendations made in the two rounds of committee meetings.

The Dior bag graft case was referred to the independent review committee upon the request of Choi, after district-level prosecutors concluded that Kim's antigraft law violation allegations lacked legal grounds for prosecution. Kim's representatives blamed a public official at the presidential office for failing to act on Kim's instruction to return the bag to Choi to abide by the antigraft law. It also found Choi not guilty.

The case surfaced after the revelation of footage taken by a camera hidden in Choi's watch by local news outlet Voice of Seoul in November 2023. The video footage showed pastor Choi purchasing the luxury bag and giving it to Kim.

By Son Ji-hyoung(consnow@heraldcorp.com)