The state anti-corruption agency said Thursday that it is looking into allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee improperly received a high-end designer bag from a pastor last year.
A liberal YouTube-based news channel had previously claimed that the wife of President Yoon Suk Yeol had been gifted the Christian Dior bag valued at around 3 million won (US$2,200) by the Korean American pastor and released a video recording of the incident.
A civic group later filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, requesting an investigation into Kim for the alleged violation of anti-graft laws.
The commission said it received the complaint last month and has been conducting an investigation in accordance with due process.
The announcement came after critics raised suspicions that the agency is turning a blind eye to the allegations involving the first lady while looking into whether there was any favoritism involved in the helicopter transport of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung for treatment
following an attack.
“We are handling all reported cases fairly and in accordance with the law and principles,” the agency said in a press release.
Lee, the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2. After receiving emergency treatment at a general hospital in Busan, he was airlifted by an emergency helicopter to another general hospital in Seoul for surgery.
Source: Yonhap News Agency