President Yoon Suk Yeol was under no obligation to report first lady Kim Keon Hee’s acceptance of a luxury handbag in 2022, as the gift was unrelated to his official duties, the state anti-corruption watchdog said Wednesday.

The comment by Chung Seung-yun, vice chair and secretary-general of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, came two days after the watchdog closed its inquiry into the handbag scandal, citing the absence of rules on punishing a public official’s spouse under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

The case centers on allegations the first lady illegally accepted the Dior handbag, valued at around 3 million won (US$2,200), from a Korean American pastor armed with a hidden camera in September 2022.

The commission’s conclusion, however, raised questions about whether Yoon could have violated the same law by failing to report his wife’s receipt of the bag.

“Considering (the gift’s) relevance to the president’s official duties, the president has no obligation to report this cas
e,” Chung said during a meeting with reporters, noting the “majority opinion” within the commission was that the bag was unrelated to the president’s work.

In the event a gift is deemed to be relevant to the president’s work, the Act on the Management of Presidential Archives applies, making the gift a part of the presidential archives, especially if it was given by a foreign national, he said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency