"Immature Wife" vs "Let's Also Expose the Sole-Source Contract for Official Residence Construction"... Ongoing Debate Over Kim Jung-sook's Visit to India

Hong Jun-pyo "Moon, working hard to shield his wife"
Lee Jun-seok "Yoon, disclose Yongsan residence private contract"

The political controversy surrounding First Lady Kim Jung-sook's 2018 visit to India, reignited by the publication of former President Moon Jae-in's autobiography, continues.

Reporter Dongju Yoon doso7@

On the 8th, Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, recalled on Facebook that former President Moon had passed through the Czech Republic while attending the 2018 Argentina G20 summit. He said, "When I went sightseeing alone in the Czech Republic after circling the globe to attend the G20 summit, I saw her suddenly jumping up and down asking, 'Where did my husband go?' and it reminded me of singer Choi Hee-jun's song 'Childish Wife'." He speculated, "The Democratic Party of Korea is defending her, but wasn't Kim's solo sightseeing at the Taj Mahal also a childish act?"

He added, "These days, former President Moon is having a hard time shielding his wife just like in that song," and pointed out, "The position of First Lady is also a public figure."

Bae Hyun-jin, a member of the People Power Party focusing on the allegations regarding Kim's visit to India, stated, "The First Lady is a civilian, not an elected official," and repeatedly criticized, "Unless India covered all expenses, if the First Lady visited alone without the president accompanying her, she should have used the Blue House budget or paid out of her own pocket."

On the other hand, the opposition party turned the criticism back to the current government. On the 8th, Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party, called for transparency by revealing the details of the private contracts between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korean Air at the time, raising suspicions about luxurious in-flight meals. He argued, "Let's expose all private contracts related to in-flight meals, the Presidential Office, and the official residence construction." He added, "Those who find it strange that Korean Air had a private contract for in-flight meals should also find it strange that 'Danurim Construction' had a private contract for the Presidential Office construction," and said, "People from the People Power Party are rolling a snowball themselves."

Danurim Construction is a company that participated in the remodeling of the Yongsan Presidential Office in 2022 through a private contract. According to the Public Procurement Service's Nara Marketplace, on the 7th, the Presidential Secretariat signed a contract with Danurim Construction, located in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, for office space environment improvement within the building, with a total construction cost of 682.08 million KRW. At the time, the Democratic Party of Korea raised allegations of favoritism for entrusting part of the construction to Danurim Construction, a newly established small company.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.