SEOUL - President Yoon Suk-yeol faced a firestorm of criticism from the main opposition and several minor parties on Feb 8, a day after he opened up about a luxury bag scandal involving the First Lady.

The parties either demanded a solid apology from Mr Yoon on behalf of his wife or brushed off his explanation as insincere.

In a New Year’s interview with KBS aired late on Feb 7, he called the anti-graft violation accusations made against First Lady Kim Keon-hee a “political manoeuvre”, citing the timeline of the scandal.

Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young said he secretly filmed Madam Kim receiving the Christian Dior bag worth three million won (S$3,000) in September 2022. Left-leaning news outlet Voice Of Seoul released the video on its YouTube channel in November 2023.

“The (Voice Of Seoul) made the video known to the public at a time when the general election is drawing near, a year after the issue happened, so we can see this as a political manoeuvre,” Mr Yoon said. The election is scheduled for April 10.

Admitting his wife’s action seen in the video was “regrettable”, he did not apologise but said: “Moving forward, the line should be drawn clearly in order to prevent such incidents from happening again.”

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea denounced Mr Yoon’s explanation of the scandal in a written briefing released by Representative Kwon Chil-seung, its senior spokesman. “We cannot suppress our frustration over the President’s arrogant refusal to respond to the people’s demand for a public apology and thorough investigation over (the scandal).”

“(His explanation) was a betrayal to people’s expectations of a sincere apology.”

Mr Kwon also pushed for a revote of the Bill demanding a special investigation into the stock manipulation allegations made against the First Lady. The Bill was passed by the opposition-led National Assembly in December 2023 but was quickly vetoed by Mr Yoon. It is now pending a revote in the National Assembly.

The newly launched New Future Party questioned the purpose of the explanation and called the KBS interview “a tragic case of a public broadcaster becoming the public relations firm for the President and his family”.

The party is co-headed by former prime minister Lee Nak-yon and former Democratic Party representative Kim Jong-min.

New Reform Party chairman and former leader of the People Power Party Lee Jun-seok wrote in a Facebook post: “If the President had conducted investigations during his days as a prosecutor by the same standards by which he treats the First Lady and her family, there would never have been ‘star prosecutor’ Yoon Suk Yeol.”

Mr Yoon was a prosecutor and prosecutor-general before taking office as president in early 2022.

In an interview on Feb 8, he did not provide details on the whereabouts of the bag, which ruling People Power Party Representative Lee Chul-gyu, who is close to him, claimed earlier was being held in storage by the government.

Critics bashed the KBS interviewer for referring to the Dior bag as “a pouch”. Democratic Party Representative Park Ju-min said: “The interviewer tried to downplay the situation by calling it a ‘pouch’ and ‘small bag of a foreign brand’.”

Other critics pointed out that the bag is called the Lady Dior Pouch.

The People Power Party spokesman defended Mr Yoon’s explanation: “(Mr Yoon) expressed a clear and forward-looking stance that there will be no misunderstanding and worries about the matter that the public has concerns.”

In December 2023, a month after Voice Of Seoul released the hidden camera footage of Madam Kim accepting the luxury bag, the news outlet sued her, alleging that she violated an anti-graft law, the Kim Young-ran Act.

The law forbids a public servant or the spouse from receiving a gift worth over one million won even when no favour is given or sought in return. Violators face a maximum three-year prison term or fine of up to 30 million won. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK