Former President Yoon Indicted Over Failure to Report Wife’s Luxury Bag

South Korean prosecutors indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday for allegedly failing to report a luxury handbag received by his wife while he was in office, adding another criminal case to the former leader’s mounting legal troubles.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office charged Yoon under the country’s anti-graft law in connection with a Dior bag that former first lady Kim Keon Hee allegedly received from a pastor in 2022. The bag was valued at 3 million won, or about $2,170.

The charge centers on Yoon’s alleged failure to report the gift as required by law, rather than on an accusation that he personally accepted it. The case has long drawn public attention because it raised questions about gift rules, presidential accountability and the handling of allegations involving a sitting president’s spouse.

Prosecutors had declined to pursue the matter in October 2024, when Yoon was still president, after concluding that the gift was not sufficiently connected to his official duties. The new indictment follows further legal developments involving Kim. A Seoul district court convicted the former first lady in June of accepting the bag and other valuables in exchange for favors. Her case is now before an appellate court.

Yoon, who is in custody, is already facing multiple trials arising from his failed martial law declaration in 2024 and his subsequent removal from office. Thursday’s decision broadens the range of proceedings against him beyond the events directly tied to the martial law crisis.

In a separate decision announced at the same time, prosecutors chose not to indict Yoon for an alleged election-law violation. That inquiry concerned claims that he made false statements about his wife’s stock transactions in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election. Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges in that case.

The luxury bag indictment will place renewed attention on how South Korea’s anti-corruption rules apply to gifts received by the spouses of senior public officials. It also means the courts will examine a matter that prosecutors previously closed while Yoon held the presidency, now against the backdrop of Kim’s conviction and Yoon’s other pending trials.