"Presidential Candidate's Wife Sending Critical Journalists to Prison," Foreign Media Reports... Ruling Party Says "It Lowers National Dignity"

UK Media Reports on Yoon Seok-yeol's Shamanism Controversy and Kim Geon-hee's Recordings
Ruling Party Criticizes as "Causing International Scandal"

Foreign media reported on the '7-hour phone call transcript' of Kim Keon-hee, spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] The English-language newspaper The Times reported on Kim Gun-hee, the spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, stating that "the wife of South Korea's leading candidate in the approval ratings mentioned that she would 'take revenge on the media that wrote critical articles'." The outlet also introduced Kim's remarks regarding the Me Too movement, in which she implied that "the victims exposed the issue because they were not paid."

On the 27th (local time), The Times published an article titled "The wife of South Korea's presidential candidate who said she would send critical journalists to prison bowed her head," reporting that "since the South Korean presidential race intensified, the wife of the leading candidate in the approval ratings promised to send critical journalists to prison and said that sexual assault victims raised issues 'for money'."

The outlet noted, "Kim legally contested to prevent the broadcast of a recorded conversation with a reporter from a media company on TV but ultimately failed," adding, "However, her husband's (candidate Yoon's) approval ratings actually rose after the broadcast. Some South Koreans expressed favor for her candid way of speaking."

The media further stated, "Kim's external activities do not seem to have caused significant harm to candidate Yoon," and reported that "Yoon's approval rating was 44.7%, leading Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea, who had 35.6%, by 5.5 percentage points."

It also mentioned the superstitious controversies surrounding candidate Yoon. The outlet explained, "Since the presidential race began, Yoon has been surrounded by various bizarre scandals," adding, "He has been accused multiple times for allegedly taking advice from shamans and has repeatedly denied relationships with an anal acupuncturist."

The media continued, "Last year, there were suspicions that when he participated in a political debate, he wrote a mystic symbol (王) on his palm to magically enhance his abilities," and added, "Such beliefs are toxic in South Korean society," noting that "(Former President) Park Geun-hye's corruption was linked to Choi Soon-sil (renamed Choi Seo-won), and it is known that shamanistic rituals were performed at the Blue House."

In response, the Democratic Party of Korea criticized, saying "Kim is lowering the national dignity of the Republic of Korea."

Choi Kang-wook, a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, attended the election campaign headquarters meeting held at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 28th, and pointed out, "The media suppression by Kim and the preemptive strikes by candidate Yoon have been reported and ridiculed daily by foreign media."

Democratic Party spokesperson Bok Ki-wang also strongly criticized on the afternoon briefing on the 18th, saying, "Foreign media such as the British daily The Independent and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post uniformly introduced Kim as the 'wife of the presidential candidate' and reported her outrageous remarks in detail," adding, "The vulgar human rights awareness of the presidential candidate's wife has caused an international controversy."

Meanwhile, candidate Yoon apologized regarding Kim's recorded remarks, saying, "As the spouse of a public figure, I have a heart of apology toward those who were hurt."

On the 27th, Yoon appeared on SBS's 'Joo Young-jin's News Briefing' and said, "Having a long-term relationship builds trust between each other, but I think it was inappropriate for (Kim) to have unnecessary and lengthy conversations with the other party," while also stating, "I think it is somewhat inappropriate from the perspective of broadcasting ethics and responsibility for a public broadcaster to report something morally improper."