Prosecutors decide against indicting first lady and pastor in handbag case

Prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they will not indict first lady Kim Keon Hee for accepting a luxury handbag and other expensive items from Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young in 2022.

First lady Kim Keon Hee gets in a car after attending a ceremony marking Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they will not indict first lady Kim Keon Hee for accepting a luxury handbag and other expensive items from Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young in 2022.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said the gifts she received from the pastor were not connected to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties and did not result in any favors that may have violated the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

Prosecutors also decided against indicting Choi despite his claims that he used the gifts to request U.S. Rep. Jay Chang Joon Kim’s appointment to the Korean Advisory Council of Elder Statesman and a place for the former congressman to be buried in a national cemetery.

The prosecution concluded that Choi’s gifts were intended to help him arrange meetings with the first lady and maintain their relationship.

Prosecutors also decided neither the president nor the first lady could be charged with destruction of evidence since the handbag was stored by the presidential office for potential registration in presidential records.

Although the decision to not indict the first lady was largely foregone after a committee of 15 outside legal experts advised prosecutors against charging Kim early last month, that was not the case with Choi, whom a majority of panel members actually recommended an indictment.

While prosecutors are legally obliged to consider the committee’s advice, they do not have to abide by its conclusions.

Wednesday’s announcement capped months of internal debate within the prosecution service and public controversy over the first lady’s potential criminal liability in the case.

Former Prosecutor General Lee One-seok, who referred the case to the committee while he was still in office, said shortly before the end of his term last month that the case highlighted the need to strengthen the antigraft law’s provisions concerning officials’ spouses.

Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young responds to reporters' questions after arriving at the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Friday morning. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors began investigating the first lady in May amid public furor over a video that showed her accepting a powder blue Lady Dior pouch worth 3 million won ($2,280) from Choi, who secretly recorded the interaction in September 2022.

The video, which was released by the left-leaning media outlet and YouTube channel Voice of Seoul in November last year, prompted President Yoon Suk Yeol to call his wife’s acceptance of the pastor’s gift an “unwise act” in a public address, which was widely seen as falling short of a full-throated apology.

The case is believed to have damaged the standing of the president’s People Power Party (PPP), which saw its parliamentary minority diminish even further in the April general election.

Since the video’s release, the liberal Democratic Party (DP) has pushed for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the first lady’s acceptance of the handbag as well as other allegations against her.

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