A political scandal has flared up in South Korea.
A pastor known as a “friend of North Korea” pulled off a hidden camera coup – capturing him handing the president’s wife an expensive designer bag.
Now the trust figures for the president are plummeting.
In September, a gray-blue Dior bag worth 20,000 was left to Kim Keon Hee, wife of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Everything was caught on film through a hidden camera, and is now creating great debate in the country.
Receiving a gift is not a crime, but in this case, the person who handed the bag to the First Lady was Choi Jae-young, a known friend of North Korea.
Pastor Jae-young has visited North Korea several times and led prayers in Pyongyang’s state-run churches.
Spy camera hidden in wristwatch
Pastor Jae-young claims that he cultivated the relationship with the first lady over a long period of time and shared advice on how the country could approach North Korea.
After hearing how Kim Keon Hee participated in a phone call that touched on sensitive government matters, he decided to record their next secret meeting using a spy camera hidden in a wristwatch, and hand over an expensive bag.
According to the pastor, the reason was to show the corruption in the country. The hidden camera film was published in November last year by the left-wing channel Voice of Seoul and is now widely distributed in the country.
More require explanation
Now the confidence figures for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has outwardly shown opposition to North Korea, are plummeting. The Korean television station YTN published a survey on Wednesday which showed that 69 percent of respondents believed that the president should give a public explanation for the incident.
It is not the first time that Kim Keon Hee finds herself in bad weather. She has previously been accused of plagiarizing her doctoral theses and manipulating the stock market.
Accusations of corruption have repeatedly rocked South Korea. Former conservative President Park Geun-hye was impeached and jailed for corruption, before being pardoned by her successor.