Regarding the suspicion surrounding the Chanel jacket worn by former President Moon Jae-in's wife Kim Jung-sook during her 2018 visit to France, the prosecution summoned the director of the National Hangeul Museum on the 1st.
According to the legal community, the Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jo Ara) summoned Kim Il-hwan, director of the National Hangeul Museum, as a witness in the afternoon and is currently investigating. The prosecution is reportedly questioning Director Kim about the circumstances under which Kim Jung-sook received the jacket she wore during the France visit as a donation from Chanel. The prosecution also summoned other museum staff as witnesses on the same day.
Earlier, suspicions arose in political circles and elsewhere that Kim Jung-sook did not return the Chanel jacket, which was inspired by Hangeul, that she borrowed and wore during her October 2018 visit to France. During the Moon Jae-in administration, the Blue House announced in March 2022 that the jacket had been returned, and Chanel donated it to the National Hangeul Museum where it is currently on display. However, later, online communities pointed out that the jacket donated to the museum was different from the one Kim Jung-sook wore, and Chanel changed its previous stance, stating that "a separate jacket was made and donated at the request of the National Hangeul Museum."
Regarding this, Lee Jong-bae, a Seoul city council member from the People Power Party, requested the prosecution to investigate Kim Jung-sook last December on charges including loss of public funds, embezzlement, fraud, theft, breach of trust, and abuse of power, stating that "there is a possibility that Kim Jung-sook did not return the jacket to Chanel and still possesses it." The prosecution is known to have questioned Lee about the jacket during an investigation last month when Lee was summoned as a complainant.
In addition, Lee raised suspicions that Kim Jung-sook took a leisure trip to India and received private swimming lessons from a Blue House security officer, and filed complaints against her.
The prosecution initially assigned this case to the Criminal Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seung-ho), which is investigating allegations related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee's Dior bag receipt, but recently reassigned it to Criminal Division 2 considering the workload of the investigation team.
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