Why does first lady Kim Keon Hee not visit Yoon Suk Yeol?
Detained president has been receiving visitors, but not first lady so far
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 insurrection and power abuse.
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 Poland's President Andrzej Duda on Oct. 24, 2024, on his state visit to South Korea.
Kim's seclusion largely stems from backlash toward her, as she has faced threats of a special counsel probe into allegations of corruption. 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's public appearances), she will do them, if people hate to see (her), she will refrain," Yoon said at the time.
The president added 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 shut down upon his inauguration in May 2022.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which controls a strong majority of seats in the National Assembly, has called for a probe into Kim's corruption allegations, including election meddling, involvement in illegal election predictions and leakage of confidential information to unauthorized people for their alleged financial benefit.
The opposition also suspected that she was involved in stock manipulation that is speculated to have led to her financial gains in early 2010s ― 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 failed to override presidential vetoes. Now, the opposition is considering a fifth attempt to push for a probe into 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 a 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, there were speculations that her health was deteriorating while she has stayed in the presidential residence in Yongsan, central Seoul.
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.
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