Panel decision put prosecution in dilemma over Dior bag case

SEOUL: South Korea’s prosecution is facing a dilemma over the high-profile luxury Dior bag case involving first lady Kim Keon Hee, as the investigation review committee for the nation’s top prosecution body gave the upper hand to the pastor who wishes to be indicted in the graft case in hopes of bringing the first lady to the court.

A 15-member independent review committee for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Tuesday (Sept 24) night recommended that Korean-American pastor Choi Jae-young be indicted for his alleged violation of South Korea’s antigraft law by gifting luxury goods worth a combined 5 million won ($3,760) — including a Christian Dior bag worth 3 million won — to Kim in September 2022.

The prosecution is not required to follow the committee’s recommendation; however, since the establishment of the investigation review committee in 2018, the prosecution has never rejected a recommendation from the committee to indict an individual.

If the prosecution chooses to indict Choi while not pursuing charges against Kim, as the committee suggested, it would create a contradictory situation in which the person who offered the graft is taken to court, but the recipient of such graft is not.

Separately, the same committee had previously recommended not to indict the first lady over the case on Sept 6.

Choi told reporters Wednesday (Sept 25) that the prosecution will now have no choice but to charge him with the crime, which will inevitably follow a renewed investigation of Kim, as well as criminal punishment for Kim’s spouse, President Yoon Suk Yeol.

“The prosecution will not leave me unindicted,” Choi said as he appeared at a police station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul to be interrogated.

“Public anger toward Kim has intensified…. The (findings) about my violation of the antigraft law will lead to Yoon’s punishment for his failure to report to the authorities (his spouse’s) gifts after learning about them,” Choi added.

The committee’s decision largely resonated with Choi’s argument that his gifts were meant to influence Yoon in connection to the latter’s duty of personnel appointments.

Choi’s legal representative, who was present at the review committee meeting, reportedly described the Dior bag case as “a perplexing situation in which the accused admits his crime while the prosecution denies his crime.” – The Korea Herald/ANN