hankyoreh

President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee of South Korea sit in a car at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol after arriving in the Netherlands for a state visit on Dec. 11. (Yonhap)

Following an unprecedented spat between the South Korean president and the leadership of the ruling party over how to respond to the first lady’s acceptance of a luxury bag in alleged violation of an antigraft law, the Hankyoreh learned Wednesday that the presidential office is mulling having President Yoon Suk-yeol personally voice his position on the matter.

Results of an opinion poll released on Wednesday showed that 69% of Koreans want the president to address the issue, and both party veterans and pundits have been urging Yoon to deal with the baggage surrounding his wife Kim Keon-hee before the upcoming general election.

The presidential office didn’t mention the issue, at least officially, on Wednesday.

Responding to questions, People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Han Dong-hoon avoided additional comment.

 “In my opinion, I’ve already said enough,” the former justice minister said. “I don’t have anything else to say about what I’ve said thus far.”

But inside the presidential office, sources say Yoon is seriously thinking about addressing Kim’s acceptance of the bag in the form of a media interview, perhaps before the end of the month. The president is also likely to stress that his wife was the victim of a “hidden camera sting.”

KBS is reportedly being floated as the broadcaster most likely to host the interview with Yoon.

Multiple sources in the presidential office told the Hankyoreh that an interview remains a “possibility,” but nothing has been decided yet.

While the presidential office had looked into the possibility of Yoon stating his position in a New Year’s press conference, it reportedly settled on holding an interview, in which the questions can be arranged in advance, to avoid unexpected questions about scandals dogging the first lady.

The presidential office’s position appears to be related to the growing sense among the public that Yoon needs to communicate his stance directly.

When polling organization Embrain Public asked whether Yoon needs to express his opinion about Kim’s scandals in a Jan. 21-22 poll commissioned by news broadcaster YTN, 69% of respondents said he does. That view was shared by 56% of conservatives, 77% of moderates and 85% of progressives, with the highest support in Gwangju/Jeolla (77%), followed by Gyeonggi/Incheon (73%) and Seoul (71%).

President Yoon Suk-yeol and PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon jointly assess the damage to a market in South Chungcheong Province that went up in a blaze earlier this week. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

PPP supporters were divided on the issue, with 46% thinking that Yoon ought to state his position and 47% disagreeing on the point.

(The survey was conducted entirely through mobile phone interviews, with a response rate of 13.4%. For more information, see the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.)

Public sentiment is also behind the urgent demands from lawmakers in the greater Seoul region and would-be candidates in the general election to hurry up and deal with the issue.

“It’s very fortunate that [Yoon and Han] have mended ties. But the cause of their spat hasn’t been dealt with. The danger presented by the first lady is something we need to deal with somehow before the general election,” one PPP lawmaker from a district in the capital region told the Hankyoreh.

“If [Kim] were to promise to go abroad or to her private home for a while, this issue could be turned on its head,” said Kim Woong, a lawmaker representing Seoul Songpa A who recently announced he won’t seek reelection, in an interview with CBS radio.

“There’s no need for Kim to make a personal appearance. She just needs to issue a heartfelt apology, and the president only needs to express his regrets,” advised Kim Moo-sung, who formerly served as head of the Saenuri Party, a forerunner of today’s PPP.

Political scientists suggest that the more Yoon and Kim delay their apology and explanation, the more of a negative impact it will have on the general election.

“Since the first lady’s scandals have now snowballed into Yoon’s relationship with Han, the price of ignoring them has basically gotten even greater,” said Yoon Tae-gon, the director of political analysis at a think tank called The Moa. “The first lady’s scandals aren’t going to just go away. Dragging this out makes it more likely that [the PPP] will lose the election.”

“If the presidential office tries to get by without addressing this issue, there will be political consequences,” remarked Lee Kwan-hu, a professor of political science at Konkuk University.

Lee added, “It was Yoon himself who pledged to ‘become a president who communicates.’ After his inauguration, he even started fielding questions from the press on his way to and from work. If his position has changed, he should explain himself.”

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Son Hyun-soo, staff reporter

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