Earlier on the 6th, the special counsel’s team conducted a search and seizure at Acro Vista, the residence of Ms. Kim in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where they reportedly found a Roger Vivier handbag together with a memo and letters bearing the name of Rep. Kim’s wife. The team then obtained a new search-and-seizure warrant from the court and seized the bag(s). Investigators had previously searched Acro Vista on the suspicion that Ms. Cho, the wife of the CEO of an interior firm called 21gram, delivered Christian Dior products to Ms. Kim and subsequently won the contract for renovation work at the presidential residence; in the course of that search, they also secured the Roger Vivier handbag.
The special counsel’s team confirmed that the item was priced in the low 1-million-won range. Under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, anyone who provides property worth 1 million won or more to the spouse of a public official in connection with the official’s duties is subject to criminal penalties. The team is said to have identified both Rep. Kim’s wife and Ms. Kim as criminal suspects and obtained the search warrant on suspicion of violating the anti-graft law.
A letter from Rep. Kim’s wife, found together with the Roger Vivier bag, included language along the lines of “Thank you for helping with the party leader election,” along with the date it was written. The date on the letter was March 17, 2023—nine days after former lawmaker Kim was elected party leader at the national convention. Regarding allegations that his wife handed a Roger Vivier bag to First Lady Kim Keon-hee as a gesture of thanks for his election as People Power Party leader, Rep. Kim Ki-hyun said on the 8th that “my spouse did give a gift.”
Issuing a statement that day, Rep. Kim said: “My wife tells me that after I was elected party leader at the People Power Party’s March 2023 convention, she gave one clutch bag to First Lady Kim Keon-hee.” He added, “As the spouse of the newly elected ruling-party leader, she offered a gift to the president’s wife as a matter of social courtesy, and enclosed a memo with brief well-wishing remarks out of the belief that smooth cooperation between the ruling-party leader and the president would be necessary.”
Rep. Kim continued: “Neither I, already elected as ruling-party leader, nor my wife had anything to ask of President Yoon and his wife, nor any reason to do so. The gift to the First Lady was nothing more or less than a private, courteous greeting between spouses.” He went on: “I hope the special counsel, having achieved little and now facing public criticism over Special Counsel Min Joong-ki’s own stock-investment fraud controversy, is not engaging in media play to divert attention. I also respectfully ask members of the press not to report speculation without fact-checking as if there were criminal suspicions.”
That day, the special counsel additionally indicted Ms. Kim and Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) leader Han Hak-ja on charges of violating the Political Parties Act for allegedly organizing the mass enrollment of Unification Church members into the People Power Party ahead of the March 2023 convention, viewing this as a way Ms. Kim received help for Rep. Kim’s victory. Investigators say Ms. Kim requested support for the convention through the shaman Jeon Seong-bae (known as “Geonjin”), initially backing Rep. Kweon Seong-dong for party leader and, after Rep. Kweon withdrew, fielding Rep. Kim as a substitute representing the so-called “pro-Yoon” (윤핵관) faction. The special counsel is investigating whether the luxury handbag was delivered as consideration for electoral support given to Rep. Kim.
Ms. Kim’s defense team, however, strongly protested that seizing the Roger Vivier bag on the basis of a newly issued warrant during a search ostensibly tied to the Hannam-dong presidential residence relocation probe constituted an unlawful “separate-case” investigation.
Related reporting to complement the details (as of Nov 8, 2025, KST)
On Nov 6, the special counsel raided Acro Vista and offices linked to 21gram, saying they were probing whether Dior items were provided while the firm sought the presidential-residence interior contract; during this process, they located a Roger Vivier clutch together with a letter attributed to Rep. Kim Ki-hyun’s wife and then obtained an additional warrant to seize it. 경향신문+1
Multiple outlets report that the memo thanked the recipient for helping Rep. Kim win the party leadership; some specify that the special counsel is examining whether the bag was given after the March 8, 2023 convention and cite the letter date as March 17, 2023. v.daum.net+2경향신문+2
Rep. Kim Ki-hyun publicly acknowledged on Nov 8 that his wife gifted one Roger Vivier clutch to First Lady Kim as a matter of “social courtesy,” denying any quid-pro-quo intent; reports also note the bag’s price was in roughly the 1-million-won range. Nate News+1
The same week, the special counsel additionally indicted Kim Keon-hee and Han Hak-ja over alleged mass enrollment of Unification Church members into the People Power Party ahead of the March 2023 leadership race, tied by investigators to efforts to sway the outcome. 조선일보+1
Kim’s legal team has pushed back on aspects of the seizures (including the luxury-goods seizures connected to the 21gram line of inquiry), framing them as unlawful “separate-case” measures; related coverage includes defense objections and even a request for forensic testing tied to other alleged gifts.
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