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Kim Keon-hee, the wife of People Power Party presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol, leaves the party’s headquarters in Seoul’s Yeouido on Sunday after giving a statement on allegations of falsifying aspects of her credentials on resumes. (pool photo)

Kim Keon-hee, the wife of People Power Party presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol, apologized Sunday for controversy over inflating her resume.

“There were instances where I inflated my qualifications and falsely listed things in order to make myself look better. All of this was my own fault and carelessness,” she said.

Her apology came 12 days after allegations were first raised about discrepancies on her resume. But critics accused her of making an emotional appeal with little substance by devoting half of her apology to personal matters unrelated to the allegations — including her experience of a miscarriage — without providing any concrete explanation of the issue.

Kim gave a press conference at the PPP headquarters in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood at 3 pm on Sunday.

“I’m constantly fearful that I will become a stain on my husband’s wishes for the South Korean public,” she said.

“There were mistakes on my part in the process of combining work with my studies,” she continued.

In a past press interview, Kim has said, “Believe it or not, but I really don’t remember,” in regard to discrepancies on her resume.

“I wanted to stand out. If that’s a crime, then so be it,” she said at the time.

But in Sunday’s apology, she adopted a different tone, acknowledging the allegations of inflation and saying, “I shouldn’t have done it, and looking back on it now I feel very ashamed.”

Kim also signaled that as the spouse of a presidential nominee, she plans to keep her activities in the public eye to a minimum during the campaign period.

“During the remaining campaign, I plan to take time for quiet reflection and introspection,” she said.

She further said that if Yoon is elected, she plans to “remain focused on my role as a wife.”

But Lee Yang-soo, a senior spokesperson for the opposition party’s election committee, insisted that this was not a reference to “serving or not serving as the first lady.”

“She will carry out her role and appear publicly as the spouse of our presidential candidate,” he said.

That said, around half of the apology that Kim read was focused on the guilt she felt toward her husband Yoon, rather than the Korean public.

Referring to her first meeting with Yoon, Kim said, “Since I’d been told he was a public prosecutor, I figured he’d be a scary guy. But he turned out to be the kind of man who feels confident enough to wear the same outfit every day, a man who is broad-minded and generous with his younger colleagues.”

In her apology, Kim mentioned having a miscarriage. “After getting married, I finally managed to get pregnant, but I was so mentally and physically exhausted because of my husband’s job that I ended up losing the baby. So I never got to grant my husband’s heartfelt dream of having a beautiful baby and carrying it to work on his shoulders.”

It was that part of the apology that prompted criticism of Kim for making an emotional appeal by bringing up personal stories that had little to do with the false information found on her resume.

However, Kim didn’t specifically address the allegations about padding her resume that had been raised by the press. After reading her apology, she left the press conference without answering any questions from reporters.

The People Power Party’s election committee offered an explanation on her behalf. The committee distributed a 14-page document addressing and explaining the allegations related to Kim. The document, which sorted the various allegations about Kim into nine categories, acknowledged that resumes she had submitted to Suwon Women’s University, Anyang University and Kookmin University had included some misleading or incorrect information.

But the election committee vigorously denied that Kim had fabricated a certificate of employment at K-Games, known also as the Korea Association of Game Industry, or that she had worked as a hostess in a nightclub, as some have claimed.

It’s unclear if Kim’s emotional appeal in her apology will be enough to assuage the controversy over the fabrications on her resume.

“This doesn’t resolve the people’s suspicions about the issues that have been raised about Kim Keon-hee,” said Nam Yeong-hui, spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s election committee.

By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter

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