South Korea's Yoon vows clearer rules after wife's 'Dior bag scandal'

By Heekyong Yang and Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) - The release of hidden camera footage showing South Korea's first lady accepting a Dior bag as a gift was a "political manoeuvre", President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday, but vowed to draw clearer lines to ensure such incidents do not happen again.

The comments were his first public response to a controversy, dubbed the "Dior bag scandal" by local media, that has roiled his ruling party ahead of a key election in April.

Some members of Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) had urged the president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, to apologise and admit that receiving the purse was, at least, inappropriate, in the hope of putting the matter to rest.

In an interview with broadcaster KBS, Yoon stopped short of apologising or addressing the legal implications and said the fact the footage, filmed in September 2022 but released in November 2023, had been revealed ahead of an election should be seen as "a political manoeuvre".

"However, it's not important whether to call it a political manoeuvre or not," he said. "What's important is to set clearer boundaries with others to prevent something like this from happening in the future."

The pastor who offered the 3 million won ($2,250) gift and secretly filmed the exchange claimed to have ties to Kim's father who died when she was a child, Yoon said.

The fact the couple were still living in their private home ahead of moving into a newly constructed presidential residence may also have contributed to confusion about how the gift should have been handled, he added.

The pastor, Reverend Abraham Choi, earlier told Reuters that he initially wanted to raise concerns about Yoon's hardline North Korea policies and that offering pricey gifts seemed to be the way to secure a meeting with the first lady.

A Gallup Korea weekly poll on Friday showed that Yoon's approval ratings had fallen to 29%, the lowest in nine months. Respondents cited a lack of communication, the first lady issue, and the economy among the reasons for their disapproval.

The scandal has threatened to fracture Yoon's PPP, with some members last month urging the president to address the issue ahead of April's parliamentary election, when the party hopes to make gains in the opposition-controlled body.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Ju-min Park, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)