South Korean President's Wife Interrogated for 12 Hours Over Gifted Dior Handbag

In South Korea, prosecutors conducted a nearly 12-hour face-to-face interrogation of the country's First Lady, Kim Keon Hee, over allegations that she received a costly Christian Dior handbag and other luxurious gifts in exchange for favors, and her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation case. This was reported by bloomberg.com.

The Central District Prosecutor's Office in Seoul announced on July 21 that Mrs. Kim Keon Hee was interrogated from July 20 at 1:30 PM until July 21 at 1:20 AM.

The scandal pertains to allegations that Mrs. Kim illegally received a Dior bag worth approximately 3 million won (about $2,900) in September 2022 from a Korean-American individual named Choi Jae Yang, in exchange for favors.

Mrs. Kim's assistant admitted during the interrogation in early July that the First Lady did receive the handbag, but claimed she instructed its return to the sender on the same day. However, the assistant noted that the bag was forgotten among many other matters and has remained unused and stored in the presidential office since then, emphasizing that there had been no intention to use the handbag.

Additionally, the First Lady is also accused of being involved in manipulating the stock prices of BMW dealer Deutsch Motors between 2009 and 2012. It is reported that she allegedly conspired with Deutsch Motors President Kwon Oh-Soo and trader Lee Jong-Ho.