The spouse of President Yoon Suk Yeol may as soon as once more take heart stage in the course of the yearly Nationwide Meeting audit over high-profile allegations that first surfaced late final 12 months that she acquired a Dior bag throughout an encounter with a pastor in late 2022.
The Democratic Get together of Korea has warned it might make “the Dior bag scandal” and different allegations involving first woman Kim Keon Hee the principle theme of its audit efforts.
The principle opposition ground chief Rep. Park Chan-dae mentioned in a press convention Sunday that his celebration was “decided to get to the underside” whether or not or not the primary woman supplied favors in return for the bag.
He mentioned as a primary step, the celebration shall be placing to vote the twice-failed invoice for assigning a particular counsel to analyze the president’s spouse on the subsequent plenary session of the Meeting.
“The Kim Keon Hee investigation invoice has the clear assist of the Korean folks, and the Democratic Get together will do every thing in our energy to have the invoice cross on the earliest doable alternative accordingly,” he mentioned.
“To resolve the extremely questionable circumstances surrounding the primary woman receiving the posh bag, we consider {that a} particular counsel investigation is barely obligatory.”
The opposition push for the particular counsel invoice comes after Seoul prosecutors had already cleared the primary woman and the pastor of felony fees over the Dior bag providing final month.
The invoice was struck down for the second time on the Meeting plenary session on Friday, regardless of the opposition making up about two-thirds of the seats.
Park mentioned over the course of the Meeting audit, his celebration would additionally look into different allegations believed to contain the primary woman, comparable to that she helped manipulate inventory costs and used faux credentials to land jobs.
“This 12 months’s audit shall be a time to warn Yoon and the ruling celebration that their methods of destroying the norms and values of our nation won’t be condoned,” the Democratic Get together ground chief mentioned.
“Our celebration will totally look at the previous three years of incompetence of this administration and maintain the president accountable, in addition to the numerous suspicions dealing with the primary woman.”
The Democratic Get together ground chief urged his ruling Individuals Energy Get together counter Rep. Choo Kyung-ho to cooperate along with his celebration in getting the invoice towards the primary woman handed.
In a press convention held the identical day, the ruling celebration ground chief accused the opposition of “turning the once-in-a-year audit into yet one more partisan strife.”
“We’d be failing the folks as members of the Meeting by participating in meaningless bickering and losing the time that’s alleged to be about scrutinizing the federal government and its coverage implementations,” he mentioned.
Choo claimed that the opposition mounting assaults on the primary woman was a approach of deflecting criticisms of its chief Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who’s presently the chief defendant in 4 separate felony trials.
“The Democratic Get together is bent on turning the yearly audits into an opportunity to repeat the identical outdated act of concentrating on the primary woman whereas its personal chief’s authorized dangers are solely rising,” he mentioned.
