For her Machiavellian politicking, she has been called “Korea’s Lady Macbeth”; for her obvious love of luxury she has been compared to Marie Antoinette; and for her extensive cosmetic surgery to Michael Jackson.
As President Yoon of South Korea fights an increasingly desperate battle for political survival, angry attention is focusing on the part played in his embattled presidency by his wife, Kim Keon-hee.
Last Saturday the national assembly voted to impeach Yoon, 11 days after his sudden and abortive attempt to impose martial law. The motives for this disastrous move are not completely clear but many South Koreans suspect that, at least in part, it was a means of protecting his wife from investigation and potential prosecution.
Kim, 52, has lent much-needed glamour to her 63-year-old husband, a solemn and austere former prosecutor, ever since his emergence on the political stage five years ago. But from the beginning she has been a controversial figure, whose ambition, pronounced tastes and strong opinions have often eclipsed the conservative political agenda pursued by her husband.
Some of this may be down to prejudice towards a rich, outspoken, childless woman in a conservative society of traditional gender roles. But again and again, Kim has compromised herself in ways that can only alienate her from ordinary South Koreans.
The latest incident was the publication of a video of Kim flirting with a male journalist after reading his palm. “You have a lot of women around you,” she tells him. “That’s not a bad thing.”
After commenting on his “rough, soldierly” appearance, she tells him: “Your virility is strong.”
The controversies surrounding Kim began before she became first lady. She owns Covana Contents, a company that mounts big art exhibitions and cultural events. With personal assets of close to 50 billion won (around $35 million) in 2018, her wealth eclipses that of her husband.
During the presidential election campaign in 2021, she apologized publicly for “exaggerating” her academic achievements. The same journalist who was praised for his manliness released recordings of conversations with Kim, in which she implied that she was the power behind the throne and would remain so if he was elected president.
“Have you heard of ‘the second VIP?’” she asked, referring to the role of first lady. “I don’t think Yoon Suk-yeol is really the president. That fool is just a puppet.”
She spoke of her interest in “dosas” or spiritual gurus. Her doctoral dissertation was about fortune tellers, and all of this played into claims, always denied, that Yoon was employing supernatural techniques on the campaign trail, such as writing a mystically charged Chinese character on his hand, and even consulting an “anal acupuncturist”.
Among other remarks, she promised to take revenge on journalists who criticized Yoon. “If I make it to the [presidential palace], I will put them all in prison,” she said — a threat that has not been carried out.
She also caused outrage with her remarks about a left-wing politician who was imprisoned for raping a female secretary. She said that she and Yoon were on his side, and that the reason liberal politicians had been exposed more often than conservatives for sexual assault scandals was because they failed to “pay off” their victims.
“I don’t think Yoon Suk-yeol is really the president. That fool is just a puppet.”
She said: “MeToo incidents occur because they don’t pay, surely. They [the women] want to play around but have no money. I understand.”
But none of the most serious allegations against Kim have stuck. A group of scholars set out details of alleged plagiarism in her thesis, but her alma mater, Kookmin University, dismissed them as merely “shortcomings” and “insufficiencies”.
A court ruled that bank accounts belonging to her and her mother had been used to manipulate stock prices, but she was not charged. This year, she was filmed accepting a gift of a $2,100 designer handbag from a man who was seeking to influence her husband’s policy on North Korea.
Opponents of her husband insist that the reason such cases have never been pursued is not because they have no merit, but because Kim is married to a man who was South Korea’s chief prosecutor and is now its president.
In April the opposition defeated Yoon’s party to take control of the national assembly. Since then they have passed three separate bills to establish a special prosecutor to investigate the first lady but each one has been vetoed by the president.
Yoon claimed his attempt to impose martial law had been motivated by “the threats of North Korean communist forces”. But it also came after a fourth vote to prosecute his wife. Now that he has been impeached, it would be up to the prime minister, now the acting president, Han Duck-soo, whether to take the incendiary decision to veto it for a fourth time.
Yoon’s loyalty to his wife is impressive. He became enraged during the election campaign when a famous singer, An Chi-hwan, released a song entitled “Lady who looks like Michael Jackson.” Although it did not name her, everyone knew it was about Kim, who has made no secret of her extensive plastic surgery.
“My wife has been suffering a lot because of my political career, including public attention to how she looks,” Yoon said. “I feel sorry for my wife that, because of my political campaign, she has had to suffer a lot in this unworthy attack.”
But his greatest sympathy seemed to be elsewhere. “It feels grotesque,” he said, “to see Michael Jackson being used in this undeserving way.”
Richard Lloyd Parry is the Asia editor of The Times of London
