South Korea’s Scandal-Prone First Lady

Kim Keon-hee is the First Lady of South Korea. She has also become a liability for her husband, President Yoon Seok-yeol.

Scandal after scandal, many caused by First Lady Kim, have hobbled the political prospects of President Yoon, sending his approval ratings down into the high teens and throwing the future of conservativism in South Korea into disarray.

South Korea is in a tough geopolitical neighborhood—so why are tabloid-level scandals taking up so much of the political oxygen there?