The hidden camera footage showing Kim Keun-hee accepting the bag worth $2,250 was dubbed the “Dior bag scandal” by local media.
The scandal threatens to undermine the efforts of the conservative People Power Party led by Yoon Suk-yeol to win a majority in the national parliament in the upcoming elections in April.
Some members of his party urged the president and his wife to apologize for the incident and acknowledge that receiving the wallet was, at the very least, inappropriate, in the hope of putting an end to the matter.
It was reported that the president was planning to assert that his wife was the victim of a political ploy.
His office told The Telegraph he had no further information to share.
The accusations first appeared in November when a YouTube channel broadcast a secret recording of Korean pastor Abraham Choi offering Kim the handbag during a meeting in September 2022.
Local media quoted an unnamed presidential official as saying that the gifts presented to the couple are treated and stored as government property.
But this escalating issue has drawn criticism not only from opposition politicians, but also from within Yoon's People's Party.
Internal tensions came to a head last week when a member of the party leadership compared Kim Kyong-yeol to Marie Antoinette, the French queen known for her lavish lifestyle.
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