0
Kim Keon-hee, former first lady, arrives at the special counsel’s office in the KT Gwanghwamun Building West, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on August 6 to be questioned as a suspect. / Photo: Yonhap News

On August 11, the special counsel team investigating First Lady Kim Keon-hee conducted a raid on Seohui Construction in connection with the so-called “NATO necklace” scandal.

Prosecutors and investigators were dispatched to the company’s headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to seize materials. The probe centers on allegations that Kim failed to disclose a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace in her asset filings. She wore the piece in June 2022 during an overseas trip accompanying then-President Yoon Suk-yeol to a NATO summit.

Kim has claimed the necklace was a replica she gifted to her mother around 2010. However, the special counsel says Van Cleef & Arpels confirmed the design was first released in 2015, making her account implausible and raising suspicions she swapped the genuine item for a fake.

Investigators have also searched a Van Cleef & Arpels store and reportedly obtained records showing that a close associate of Seohui Construction’s chairman purchased the same model on March 9, 2022, right after Yoon’s election victory. The team is also looking into the fact that the chairman’s son-in-law was appointed chief secretary to the prime minister in June 2022, shortly before the presidential couple’s trip, to determine whether the necklace was part of a quid pro quo arrangement.