The prosecution investigating allegations of luxury bag acceptance by First Lady Kim Keon-hee will summon Pastor Choi Jae-young on the 13th for questioning. Pastor Choi secretly filmed the First Lady receiving an expensive bag and provided the footage to Seoul's Sound for reporting.
Pastor Choi denies any 'official duty-related' connection, claiming he gave the gift and filmed it solely to assist with public-interest reporting, not related to any official duties. Attention is focused on how the prosecution will judge the presence or absence of 'official duty-relatedness,' which could decisively affect whether First Lady Kim or President Yoon Seok-yeol violated the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung-ho) will summon Pastor Choi this morning as a suspect on charges including violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and trespassing for investigation.
Pastor Choi visited First Lady Kim at the Kobana Contents office located in the basement of Acrovista in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on September 13, 2022, after President Yoon's inauguration, and gifted her a Christian Dior pouch worth approximately 3 million KRW. At that time, the presidential residence in Hannam-dong was not yet ready, so President Yoon commuted between his home in Acrovista and the Yongsan Presidential Office. Additionally, Pastor Choi used a watch equipped with a hidden camera provided by Seoul's Sound to film the moment he gave the bag and then supplied the footage to Seoul's Sound, which reported it in November last year.
Following the report, Baek Eun-jong, CEO of Seoul's Sound, filed a complaint with the prosecution in December last year accusing President Yoon and his wife of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and bribery.
Civil organizations Halbindan and the Committee for the Protection of the Livelihood of Ordinary People filed complaints against Pastor Choi for violations including the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, defamation, insult, false accusation, trespassing, and obstruction of official duties by deception. Halbindan also filed complaints against Baek, CEO of Seoul's Sound, and reporter Lee Myung-soo, who prepared the bag.
The charges of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act relate to providing prohibited valuables (luxury bags) to First Lady Kim, the spouse of a public official, in connection with official duties. The defamation and insult charges stem from broadcasting the gift acceptance scene, which allegedly damaged and insulted the First Lady's honor. The false accusation charge is based on knowingly filing a complaint to punish Kim despite no provision in the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act to penalize her. Trespassing charges relate to entering the Kobana Contents office against the presumed will of First Lady Kim for the purpose of hidden camera filming. The obstruction of official duties by deception charge concerns wearing a watch with a hidden camera while entering the office entrance, where presidential security staff controlled access and searched for prohibited items.
Meanwhile, Pastor Choi is also under police investigation for violating the Stalking Punishment Act, accused of stalking by requesting meetings with First Lady Kim about ten times.
Earlier, on the 9th, the prosecution completed complainant investigations by summoning Hong Jeong-sik, head of Halbindan, and Kim Soon-hwan, secretary-general of the Committee for the Protection of the Livelihood of Ordinary People. The prosecution also planned to summon Baek, CEO of Seoul's Sound, around the same time but postponed the investigation to the 20th at Baek's request.
The prosecution has requested original, unedited video footage from Pastor Choi and Seoul's Sound of the day the bag was handed over. This is interpreted as an effort to review the entire conversation before and after the gift exchange to assess the official duty-relatedness.
The core issue in this case is whether the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act was violated, which prohibits the spouse of a public official from receiving valuables related to the official's duties. In other words, it must be established that First Lady Kim received the bag from Pastor Choi in connection with President Yoon's official duties for a violation to be considered.
However, the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act only prohibits the spouse of a public official from receiving valuables related to official duties and does not separately provide for punishment. Conversely, if it is recognized that Pastor Choi gifted the bag to First Lady Kim in connection with official duties, he may be punished under Article 8, Paragraph 5 of the Act with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW. In such a case, whether President Yoon took measures such as reporting after becoming aware of the bag acceptance could also become an issue.
Before the prosecution investigation, Pastor Choi expressed in media interviews that there was no official duty-relatedness, seemingly considering his potential punishment. However, Baek, CEO of Seoul's Sound, who orchestrated a kind of 'sting operation' with Pastor Choi, and reporter Lee Myung-soo, who personally prepared the bag, have argued that First Lady Kim should be punished for violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. They have also claimed the existence of 'official duty-relatedness' based on conversations between Kim and Pastor Choi during the criminal complaint process. The series of events involving gifting the luxury bag to First Lady Kim, filming the scene, and reporting it appear to have been pre-discussed and role-divided among Pastor Choi, Baek, and Lee, yet their positions on 'official duty-relatedness' differ.
A prosecution official stated, "We cannot determine official duty-relatedness solely based on what he (Pastor Choi) says; we need to consider various factors comprehensively."
Attention is now focused on how the prosecution will investigate First Lady Kim after completing investigations of Pastor Choi and Baek.
Within prosecution circles, amid opposition parties pushing for the enactment of a 'Kim Keon-hee Special Prosecutor Act,' there is speculation that a summons investigation is inevitable to avoid controversy over 'inadequate investigation' or 'lenient investigation.' Even if First Lady Kim does not appear directly at the prosecution office, it is highly likely that a prosecutor will visit her for a face-to-face investigation.
Meanwhile, Baek, CEO of Seoul's Sound, and Pastor Choi have stated they will testify during the prosecution investigation that they had previously given First Lady Kim gifts such as liquor and cosmetics, making further prosecution investigation into these matters unavoidable.
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