South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologised for causing concerns about him and his wife(AP: Kim Hong-Ji / Pool)
ABC NEWS | Published November 8, 2024
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has delivered a public apology for recent scandals involving his wife, but denied wrongdoing in a burgeoning influence-peddling controversy that has damaged his approval ratings.
The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing several critical foreign policy issues, including Donald Trump’s election win and North Korea’s reported entry into the Russia-Ukraine war.
The latest scandal centres around allegations that Mr Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee exerted inappropriate influence on the conservative ruling People Power Party over the selection of a by-election candidate in 2022.
It’s alleged this was at the request of Myung Tae-kyun, a pollster and political powerbroker who conducted free opinion polls for Mr Yoon before he became president.
The scandal has made headlines for weeks in South Korea, with Mr Myung’s leaked phone conversations reportedly showing how he boasted of influence over the presidential couple and other top officials.
Asked about ties to the powerbroker during a press conference on Thursday, Mr Yoon insisted he “didn’t do anything inappropriate” and has “nothing to hide”.
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SOURCE: www.abc.net.au
RELATED: South Korea president apologises for controversies surrounding wife but says she was demonised
Yoon rejects opposition parties’ call for special counsel to investigate allegations against first lady, calling it ‘political propaganda’
File: South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, speaks during a joint press conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, 24 October 2024 (via AP)
INDEPENDENT | Published November 8, 2024
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol has apologised for controversies surrounding his wife, Kim Keon-hee, which included allegations of her accepting a luxury Dior handbag and involvement in stock manipulation.
Mr Yoon acknowledged his wife’s actions could have been better but argued that her portrayal was overly “demonised” and that some claims were “exaggerated”. Addressing the allegations involving himself and his wife, the South Korean president publicly stated on Thursday that “it’s all my fault”.
However, he voiced his opposition to the opposition parties’ push for a special counsel to investigate the various allegations against the first lady, saying, “that’s not a legal procedure, but political propaganda”.
He told reporters following a televised address on Thursday that his opposition to the special counsel bill “is absolutely not motivated by love for my wife or a desire to defend her”, adding that a “special counsel is an attempt to play politics under the guise of the law”.
He said that the past investigations with hundreds of investigators yielded no indictments and that “the very act of appointing a special counsel to which the president and the ruling party are opposed suggests you can make laws to do anything at all, an idea that’s fundamentally contrary to the constitution”.
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SOURCE: www.independent.co.uk
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