South Korean authorities have questioned First Lady Kim Keun-hye in a stock manipulation and graft case for receiving a luxury handbag as a gift.
The questioning comes as the opposition calls for a special investigation into the first lady for her role in a stock manipulation scheme and for violating government ethics rules by receiving a Dior handbag.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that it conducted a "face-to-face interrogation" with Kim on Saturday.
Secretly captured video footage published last year showed Kim receiving the handbag worth about $2,200, which local newspapers later dubbed the "Dior bag scandal."
This scandal affected President Yoon Suk-yeol's already low popularity, which contributed to his party's defeat in the general elections that took place in April, as it failed to regain the parliamentary majority.
Accepting such a gift would be a violation of South Korean law, which prohibits government officials and their spouses from accepting anything worth more than $750.
Kim's aide told investigators earlier this month that the first lady asked her to return the bag the same day she received it, but she forgot, according to Yonhap News Agency.
In his first statements regarding the bag scandal in February, the president dismissed the matter as a "political scheme," saying that his wife only accepted the bag because it was difficult for her to refuse it.
But he later apologized in a press conference last May, considering his wife's acceptance of the portfolio an "unwise" decision.
This is not the first time that Kim has faced public scrutiny, as she was forced to apologize during her husband's presidential campaign for using false credentials.
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