First lady Kim used historic site in private capacity: official

First lady Kim Keon Hee held a tea meeting with acquaintances in a historic site in Seoul that restricts entry to the public, the government agency overseeing the site has said.

At a parliamentary hearing on the issue held Friday, Choi Eung-chon, the Korea Heritage Service administrator, told lawmakers that Kim did not go through the proper channels to use Mangmyoru, a space inside Jongmyo that is off-limits to the public, on Sept. 3, a day the royal shrine from the Joseon era was also officially closed.

“We thought it was an official event and so we followed the usual practice, which was to approve it,” Choi said. “But come to think of it later, there was a lapse in judgment,” Choi added, suggesting paperwork should have been filed in accordance with KHS rules.

Those rules require any meeting using historic sites such as shrines, palaces and spaces related to them to convene an agency meeting of heritage experts. No meetings took place regarding Kim’s use of Mangmyoru, nor was a request for such a review made to the agency.

Lee Jae-il, director of the agency’s Royal Palaces and Tombs Center that is directly responsible for site use approvals, acknowledged that Kim “used Mangmyoru” for her personal benefit. Lee had consulted with the presidential office before green-lighting Kim’s request, according to Choi.

The meeting is believed to have involved six people, including Christopher Rothko, the son of American Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko. Royal chairs and tables were brought in from nearby palaces Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung.

The younger Rothko did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

According to the Korea Heritage Service, Mangmyoru is the office space of Jongmyoseo, the royal agency in charge of overall management of Jongmyo. The pavilionesque space was where Joseon kings would wait before ancestral rituals. Plaques were later made to record what kings wrote about their ancestors.

The King Uichin Commemorative Association, a local group carrying on the Korean Empire legacy, blasted Kim’s meeting, saying Mangmyoru “isn’t a cafe” for Kim to frequent whenever she wants.

“We demand an official apology from the first lady,” the group said in a statement on Dec. 12, the day after Rep. Kim Yun-duk of the Democratic Party of Korea made the news public.

“Even kings would show respect walking in and out of the shrine compound. People shouldn’t be holding private meetings there just talking and laughing with each other,” the statement added.

KHS chief Choi said he would issue an official apology regarding the incident.