[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Debates Cultural Events Attended by First Lady Kim Hye-kyung

Opposition lawmakers: "Events for Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung hastily put together"
Minister Choi Hwiyoung: "K-culture events planned to coincide with overseas trips"

A heated exchange erupted over cultural events that Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung attended alone, without President Lee Jae-myung, during a comprehensive parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on October 23. People Power Party lawmakers said Mrs. Kim had attended more cultural events and that more budget had been spent on them than for the spouses of previous presidents. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwiyoung countered that they were "cultural events planned to coincide with the president's overseas trips, not events for the first lady."

Kim Seok-gi, a People Power Party lawmaker, said that a total of KRW 1.411 billion from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's budget had been spent on nine events attended alone by Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung, based on the ministry's submission titled "Support for Events Attended by Presidents and Their Spouses Over the Past 10 Years." He added that, by the same criteria, Mrs. Kim Kun-hee had attended four events alone, with KRW 378.6 million spent, while Mrs. Kim Jung-sook had attended three events, with KRW 238 million spent.

Choi Hwiyeong, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, answers questions from committee members during a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Heritage Administration and other agencies, held by the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 23rd. Yonhap News.

Minister Choi disputed Kim's method of comparison. "I think it is an absurd distortion to call a major cultural event prepared by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism an event for the first lady simply because the president's wife attended it," he said. He continued, "Interest in K-culture has risen significantly around the world, and when the president visits a country, interest in South Korea rises as well. It is natural for the ministry to plan cultural events to coincide with those visits and for the president's wife, who accompanies him, to attend."

Minister Choi also said, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism does not host events for the first lady," adding, "Please do not disparage the ministry's regular work, which falls within its core responsibilities, by calling it an event for the first lady."

Kim responded, "I never said that separate events had been created for the first lady. I compared, using the same criteria across previous administrations, how much of the ministry's budget was spent on events attended by the president's spouse."

Kim Seung-soo, a People Power Party lawmaker, claimed that many of the cultural events attended by Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung had been hastily arranged to coincide with overseas trips. "Most of them were not existing Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism events that the first lady attended; they were hastily thrown together because she was going," he said. "Other government agencies were also mobilized, and personnel and budget were deployed to put on events for the first lady."

Minister Choi countered, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism does not host events for the first lady. The ministry plans cultural events to coincide with the president's overseas trips."

Responding to claims that the events had been hastily arranged, he said the criticism failed to take into account the nature of presidential overseas trips. "There are aspects of presidential trips that make them difficult to plan in advance," Minister Choi explained. "That is why we use the budget on an urgent basis and hold events through negotiated contracts." He added that it was difficult to understand why the ministry was being criticized for having arranged some events in a short time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.