Clearing the first lady risk is crucial

What has fed the chasm between the two old buddies — President Yoon Suk Yeol and the governing People Power Party (PPP)’s interim leader, Han Dong-hoon — is the risk related to the first lady. The controversy over first lady Kim Keon Hee has been boiling since a YouTuber in November released a video showing Kim receiving a Christian Dior handbag from a Korean American pastor.

The flash point came from Kim Kyung-ryul, an emergency committee member who ended up apologizing for his comparison of the first lady to Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated queen of France from Austria who was executed during the French Revolution. President Yoon’s upset is quite understandable.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has been pressing for an investigation into the first lady with derogatory rhetoric since the exposure last November of the first lady’s reception of the luxury bag. Voices are growing, even within the PPP, demanding an explanation and apology from the first lady. The alarming divide in the ruling party is deepening ahead of the crucial April 10 parliamentary elections, because the presidential office has stayed mum on the issue for the two months since the first lady’s receiving the gift went viral.

Until a month ago, when he was justice minister before assuming the post of interim leader, Han strongly defended the presidential couple. But after hearing voices from the field as head of the emergency committee, Han mentioned the need to pay heed to public sentiment and admitted that there were issues that could upset the people. Han might be the closest aide to President Yoon, yet he had no choice but to keep his distance from the president in order to help the PPP win the upcoming election.

The circumstances strongly suggest that Kim was trapped. Still, the presidential office’s explanation that the pastor intentionally approached Kim by using his connection with her father was not convincing. Such an aloof approach has only fanned public skepticism. What had become of the bag and other aftermath was not explained. Given the gravity of the situation, it would be best if the first lady volunteered to answer questions personally. Otherwise, the presidential office must explain what really happened on her behalf.

More importantly, such scandals must not recur. A secretariat to publicly assist the first lady and a special inspector to watch over her family must be installed at the presidential office. The presidential office must assure the people that the first lady’s secretariat and inspector will prevent her from being framed again.