South Korean President Yoon rejects calls for special investigation into wife’s stock price scandal

South Korea’s president on Thursday dismissed calls for independent investigations into allegations involving his wife and top officials, drawing swift and strong rebukes from his political rivals.

After his conservative ruling party suffered a major defeat in the recent April 10 parliamentary elections, President Yoon Suk Yeol faces what appears to be his biggest political challenge yet as opposition parties extend their control of the National Assembly until 2028.

The opposition has recently stepped up its demand for an independent investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee over several scandals, including her alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and the release of spy camera footage showing her receiving a luxury bag from a Korean-American. Shepherd.

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At a news conference marking his two years in office, Yoon said he apologizes for what he calls “my wife’s reckless behavior” in accepting the Christian Dior bag, but declined to elaborate because the scandal is being investigated by prosecutors.

Yoon described the demand for a new special investigation into the Kim stock price allegation as a political offensive, since Kim was not charged or convicted in the investigations that began when the Democratic Party was in power. In January, Yoon had vetoed a bill calling for the appointment of an independent lawyer to investigate his wife’s stock-pricing allegations.

During Thursday’s conference, Yoon also made clear that he opposes another Democratic Party-led push for a special investigation into suspicions surrounding the death of a sailor who drowned during a search for flood victims in 2023.

Yoon called the Marine’s death heartbreaking, but noted that police and an anti-corruption investigation agency have already been examining the case. Yoon said she would approve a new independent investigation if the police and the anti-graft investigation agency do not address public suspicions about the case. Questions have persisted about why the Marine was deployed without safety equipment and whether the government attempted to prevent senior officials from being held accountable.

Last week, the opposition-controlled parliament passed a bill calling for an independent investigation into the death, after members of the ruling party boycotted a plenary vote in protest.

Later on Thursday, Democratic Party parliamentary leader Park Chan-dae lashed out at Yoon for rejecting his call for a special investigation into the Marine’s death. “I can’t help but wonder if he has any sympathy at all with the public outraged by the Marine’s wrongful death,” Park said.

Party spokesman Han Min-soo also said Yoon’s opposition to his wife’s new investigation shows that she is “a sanctuary” in criminal investigations.

Despite the election defeat, Yoon’s main foreign policy agenda is likely to remain unchanged as he does not need parliamentary support. Yoon has made a strengthened military alliance with the United States the center of her foreign policy, while pushing to expand trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo to confront North Korea’s nuclear threats and other challenges.

Yoon on Thursday also criticized North Korea’s alleged arms exports to Russia to fuel its fighting in Ukraine and maintained that Seoul will stick to its principle of providing only non-lethal support to Ukraine.

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“We have a very clear policy of not providing lethal and offensive weapons to any party” in an active conflict, Yoon said.

Since the start of the war, South Korea has sold artillery shells to the United States, saying the shells were intended to replenish depleted American stocks. The country also signed several arms deals with European powers eager to bolster their defenses following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“North Korea’s export of these weapons is not only an illicit activity to support the war in Ukraine, but also a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions on the North Korean nuclear issue,” Yoon said. “That is why we are taking the necessary measures in coordination with the UN and the international community.”