Foreign Media: "Dior Bag Scandal to Burden Ruling Party Ahead of General Election"

"Kim Gun-hee Risk Will Grow Even Larger"

Opposition party lawmakers and officials from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Justice Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Progressive Party are holding a rally on the steps in front of the National Assembly Main Building, urging President Yoon Seok-yeol to accept a special investigation into the "Kim Gun-hee·5 Billion Club." Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

As opinions within the ruling party diverged over the controversy surrounding First Lady Kim Geon-hee's receipt of a luxury handbag, even foreign media took notice. Related reports have been continuously emerging.

On the 23rd (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article over 4,000 characters long titled "A $2,200 Dior Handbag Shakes South Korea's Ruling Party." The subtitle read, "The First Lady's handbag receipt controversy is becoming a burden for the ruling party ahead of the April general election." The article explained the background of the controversy and analyzed that the issue is putting pressure on the ruling party ahead of the April election. It also pointed out that the presidential office has not responded publicly.

It also covered the internal conflict within the ruling party, where some lawmakers are calling for an apology while others defend it as a "hidden camera trap." It mentioned Kim Kyung-yul, a member of the People Power Party's emergency committee, who said, "One party member had to apologize after comparing the First Lady to Marie Antoinette, the queen before the French Revolution."

Quoting public opinion polls, the article reported, "Three out of five South Koreans oppose President Yoon's job performance, and 62% view the Dior bag incident as a violation of the Anti-Graft Act." It noted, "This is not the First Lady's first controversy," listing allegations such as resume falsification and stock manipulation suspicions, and added that Kim has "disappeared from the public eye for over a month." The last time Kim appeared publicly was during a state visit to the Netherlands with President Yoon in December last year.

A British local media outlet cited a South Korean political commentator saying, "The Dior bag scandal is a political bomb," and "The Kim Geon-hee risk will only grow." It also reported that this incident briefly exposed a rift between President Yoon and Han Dong-hoon, known as his closest aide and emergency committee chairman, and predicted that "it could pose a threat to efforts to regain a majority in the April general election."