Latest news with #KimHyeKyung
AFP
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- AFP
Old photo misrepresented as Lee Jae Myung's recent vacation
A post shared on Facebook on August 4, 2025 claimed the photo showed Lee and First Lady Kim Hye Kyung enjoying a holiday at the beach. Text seen in the screenshot reads: "The president is on vacation, Lee Jae Myung and first lady Kim Hye Kyung" and "Watersports are best when the country is flooded." The post surfaced as torrential rains triggered flooding and caused damage across parts of South Korea (archived link). Image Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured August 4, 2025. Orange X added by AFP Other posts sharing the same image suggest it was taken as Lee is on summer leave from August 4 to 8 in the coastal South Gyeongsang province, South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh reported, citing the presidential office (archived link). "People are dying and this guy is photographed in a swimsuit, how can we call him our leader," reads one comment left in the post. Another comment reads, "The economy is dying and people are suffering but he chooses to take a swim." But the photo is old and does not show Lee on holiday in 2025. Combined reverse image and keyword searches show the same picture was posted to Lee's verified Facebook account on August 28, 2017 (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison between the photo shared with the misleading claim (left) and the original photo posted in August 2017 on Lee's Facebook page (right) In the caption, he wrote about filming for the reality show "Same Bed, Different Dreams," a program featuring celebrity couples which aired that month on SBS (archived link). A segment from the show available on YouTube shows Lee and Kim wearing the same swimsuits while surfing at the beach (archived link). At the time, Lee was serving as mayor of Seongnam, a city south of Seoul. Similar photos of the couple at the beach were also published in multiple local reports about the TV program at the time (archived here and here). Lee is a frequent target of disinformation online which AFP previously debunked multiple times.
South China Morning Post
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
From blind date to first lady: Kim Hye-kyung's journey with South Korea's president
In August 1990, Lee Jae-myung, a newly qualified lawyer, made the bold decision to marry one of the five women he had blind dates with in a single month. With the same determination that would later characterise his political career, Lee arranged the five blind dates. Kim Hye-kyung, his third match, has remained by his side ever since, standing beside him during Wednesday's inauguration. South Korea's new first lady was born into a middle-class family in Seoul in 1966. She graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and studied piano at Sookmyung Women's University. She met Lee while preparing to study in Austria, but seven months later, those plans changed when she married him, launching a turbulent 35-year political journey. When Lee entered politics in the early 2000s, Kim initially opposed the move. But as she saw him drive change in the community and build public support as mayor of Seongnam, her opposition gave way to support. During his first presidential bid in 2017, she accompanied him on regional campaign stops and even appeared alongside him on entertainment programmes.
South China Morning Post
04-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
South Korea's new President Lee to restart talks with North, bolster ties with US and Japan
South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung vowed on Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the United States and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term. Advertisement Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea's leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier on Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then president Yoon Suk-yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year. In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said his government would deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with 'strong deterrence' based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance. But he said he would 'open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean peninsula through talks and cooperation'. He said he would pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighbouring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the robust South Korea-US alliance. 'Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximise our national interests,' Lee said. South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hye-kyung after attending the presidential inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE It was unclear whether Lee's election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea's foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting towards China and North Korea and away from the US and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea's alliance with the US as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any contentious remarks that would raise questions on his views on the US and Japan.
South China Morning Post
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Satirical comedy sketch fuels feud between South Korea's would-be first ladies
A satirical jab on a comedy show has thrown South Korea 's would-be first ladies into the political spotlight, as their rising visibility on the campaign trail fuels controversy ahead of the June 3 presidential election Seol Nan-young, wife of conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo, targeted Kim Hye-kyung – the spouse of Democratic Party front-runner Lee Jae-myung – during last week's episode of Saturday Night Live Korea, a local adaptation of the American sketch comedy show. In the segment, Seol appeared as herself and mocked a comedian playing the wife of her husband's political rival, warning: 'Do not use [a government-issued] corporate credit card.' The joke referred to a real-life scandal involving Kim Hye-kyung, who in May was fined 1.5 million won (US$1,100) by a local high court for misusing a government card while her husband was governor of Gyeonggi province. The court found that her actions, which included buying meals for spouses of Democratic Party lawmakers, served her husband's political interests during his 2021 presidential campaign. Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, leaves the Suwon High Court on May 12 after it upheld a 1.5 million won fine for misusing a Gyeonggi government credit card in 2021 to support her husband's campaign. Photo: EPA-EFE Seol went further, saying on the show that misappropriating taxpayer money was 'malicious, as it was covered by taxes'. She has also claimed that during her husband's own tenure as governor of Gyeonggi, the couple had 'strictly followed regulations regarding card usage'.
