Home > National > Politics

Yoon open to reshuffle if aides connected to first lady mismanaged affairs

Published: 22 Oct. 2024, 18:35

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, right, walk on the lawn of the Pine Grass reception hall inside the presidential complex in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday afternoon. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol told People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon that he would consider a personnel reshuffle within his administration if some aides reported to have ties to first lady Kim Keon Hee were found to have improperly directed state affairs, the presidential office said Tuesday.

Their meeting over tea at the Pine Grass reception hall of the presidential complex in Yongsan District in central Seoul, which was also attended by Yoon’s chief of staff Chung Jin-suk, came weeks after Han called for a one-on-one meeting with Yoon to discuss several issues, including Kim’s alleged role in pulling strings on government policy through a clique of current and former administration officials.

According to a senior prosecution official who spoke on condition of anonymity with reporters, Yoon asked Han to identify “who is causing problems and how” and said he would “review the details and determine whether to take action.”

In response, Han named eight officials in the presidential office who are suspected of misdirecting state affairs, according to PPP sources.

While Han spoke at length about the need for a personnel reshuffle to Yoon, party members who spoke to local media after the pair’s meeting said the president appeared unaware of any problems with his aides communicating with his wife.

Han also told Yoon that he supported the appointment of a special counsel to examine other allegations against the first lady, who has been accused of involvement in the 2009-2012 Deutsch Motors stock price manipulation scheme, accepting a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor and interfering in PPP candidate nominations ahead of the April general election.

However, Yoon said that the government and PPP should wait for the state prosecution service to announce its findings regarding the suspicions surrounding Kim before deciding on further action, according to his office.

The president also told the PPP chief that appointing a special investigator is a matter for his party to negotiate with the liberal Democratic Party (DP), but thanked conservative lawmakers for voting against DP-led special counsel probe bills targeting his wife.

People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, second from right, visits a market in Incheon's Ganghwa County on Tuesday to thank the area for its support in the local government by-election held there last week, which was won by PPP candidate Park Yong-cheol, second from left. [NEWS1]

Yoon vetoed two such bills in January and earlier this month, but the DP last week passed a third bill demanding a special counsel investigation into Kim after prosecutors wrapped up their four-year probe into her alleged role in the stock price manipulation scheme without an indictment.

The latest DP bill also addresses recent rumors that Kim asked pundit and so-called kingmaker Myung Tae-kyun to conduct polls favorable to her husband ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

According to officials, Yoon told Han that Myung had advised him during the PPP's 2022 presidential primary, but that he cut contact with him before the election.

The mounting suspicions regarding Kim led Han to break his long silence on the first lady last week and request that she step away from the public eye.

Regarding the request for the first lady to reduce her public engagements, Yoon explained that Kim is “already refraining from carrying out external engagements” as she is “very exhausted and struggling.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]