A store employee who handled the exchange of an expensive Chanel bag received from the Unification Church by Kim Keon-hee's side testified in court that they had heard there was an exchange case related to the first lady.
At a continued trial on the 27th before the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Woo In-seong), for former Unification Church World Headquarters Director Yoon Young-ho on charges including violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, a person surnamed Seo, who worked at the Chanel flagship store in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, at the time, appeared as a witness.
Seo said that in July 2022, Yoo Kyung-ok, a former presidential office administrative officer close to Kim Keon-hee, brought to the store a Chanel Classic large-size bag worth about 12.71 million won that had been received from the Unification Church side, and exchanged it for two other products.
Seo said, "I heard from the deputy manager that a customer would come regarding the first lady exchange case," and added, "I then served the two customers the deputy manager mentioned." Seo continued, "I don't remember one of them exactly, and I remember one had a bob," and explained the situation at the time: "The woman with the bob seemed to be on a video call with someone, wearing wireless earphones and shining a phone on the products."
When the special counsel team asked, "The woman with short hair was identified as the former administrative officer Yoo. Do you remember?" Seo answered, "I don't remember the face exactly." Seo added, "They said they had already seen something," and said, "I responded immediately because there was stock of the model." According to Seo, the former administrative officer Yoo exchanged one Chanel Classic large-size bag for one Chanel Classic medium-size bag and one Chanel camera bag.
Meanwhile, when the attorney for former Unification Church World Headquarters Director Yoon asked, "At the time, did you hear the titles of madam, first lady, or ma'am, or any mention of first lady Kim Keon-hee?" Seo said, "No." However, Seo added, "It was memorable because we generally don't handle matters for the first lady, so it was special."
The court said it would conclude arguments in the case on the 17th of next month.