It has been a week since detained President Yoon Suk Yeol was permitted to receive visitors other than his lawyers. Groups of senior aides and political heavyweights from the ruling bloc made their way to visit him ― but not his wife, first lady Kim Keon Hee.
On Monday, Seok Dong-hyeon, Yoon's close friend who recently joined the team of Yoon's legal representatives, said in a radio interview with YTN that Kim "does not plan" to visit Yoon while he is currently detained at the Seoul Detention Center over charges of leading an insurrection and committing abuse of power.
Kim "will be inevitably grilled by political circles, media and civic groups" if she makes such a visit, Seok told YTN, adding that previous visits by Yoon's aides and ruling party lawmakers had already led to controversy.
Kim has now been out of the public eye for over three months. She was last seen in public when the presidential couple received Polish President Andrzej Duda on Oct. 24, 2024, on his state visit to South Korea.
Kim's current reclusiveness is related largely to the public backlash against her, stemming from numerous allegations -- from involvement in stock price manipulation to inappropriately accepting a luxury bag and other expensive gifts, to interference in personnel affairs and election meddling -- which have led opposition parties to push for multiple special counsel probes to investigate her.
Yoon said in his last news conference in November ― before the martial law fiasco ― that Kim ought to limit her appearances if people "hate to see her."
"If people love to see (Kim appearing publicly), she will do them, if people hate to see (her), she will refrain," Yoon had said at the time.
At the time, Yoon said that Kim had already stopped making public appearances except for important diplomatic events. The news conference was followed by Kim skipping Yoon's trip to South America to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and Group of 20 summit later in November.
Yoon's office in November also announced the relaunch of the first lady's office, which he had previously shut down upon his inauguration in May 2022.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which holds the majority of seats in the National Assembly, has four times proposed special probes into Kim's corruption allegations, including election interference, involvement in illegal election predictions and leakage of confidential information to unauthorized people for their alleged financial benefit.
The opposition has also suspected that she was involved in stock price manipulation that is speculated to have led to her financial gains over approximately three years beginning slightly over a decade before she became the first lady.
Since Yoon's inauguration, the main opposition has introduced four special counsel bills targeting Kim, all of which Yoon vetoed and which failed to override his vetoes. Now, the opposition is considering a fifth push for a probe of 12 allegations concerning Kim, according to Rep. Kang Yu-jung, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, Tuesday.
The first lady, a former entrepreneur, has been keeping her distance from the public as her scandals have continued to circulate, including the Dior bag scandal.
In May, Kim made her first official public appearance after five months of seclusion at a ceremony to celebrate the return of 14th-century Buddhist relics to South Korea.
Meanwhile, from detention, Yoon has expressed concern about her.
According to legal representative Seok on Jan. 28, Yoon told his lawyers during their visit that he was concerned about Kim's health.
"Since I left the presidential residence on Jan. 15, I have not seen her face and I could not do so, so I was worried about her health," Yoon was quoted as saying by Seok.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
