The South Korean president has apologized for a series of controversies surrounding his wife, including allegedly accepting a luxury Dior handbag and stock manipulation.
Addressing the nation on television, Yoon Suk Yeol said his wife, Kim Keon Hee, should have behaved better, but that her portrayal had been excessively “demonized”, adding that some of the allegations against her were ” exaggerated.”
The president said he would create an office to oversee the first lady's official duties, but rejected the request for an investigation into her activities.
Yoon's apology comes as he tries to reverse a decline in his popularity with the South Korean public linked to controversies surrounding his wife.
In late 2023, the left-wing YouTube channel Voice of Seoul posted a video that allegedly showed Kim accepting a 3 million won ($2,200; £1,800) Dior bag from a pastor, who filmed the exchange in September 2022 using a camera hidden in his watch.
In February, Yoon said the images were leaked as a “political maneuver” and made no apologies.
South Korea's Democratic Party, the opposition to Yoon's conservative People Power Party, at the time called the president's “brazen attitude” “desperate.”
The scandal has also caused divisions within Yoon's party, with one leader comparing Ms Kim to Marie Antoinette, the French queen known for her extravagant lifestyle.
The opposition party has also long accused the first lady of being involved in stock price manipulation. Earlier this year, Yoon vetoed a bill calling for his wife to be investigated over the allegations.
