Who is Kim Keon-hee, described as South Korea’s ‘Lady Macbeth’?

The country’s first lady has been accused of corruption and stock price manipulation; now she is being blamed for the political downfall of her husband, Yoon Suk-yeol.

Just days after South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol’s failed martial law order, memes and parody posts suggesting it had been carried out to protect his wife, Kim Keon-hee, began to circulate on social media.

According to a report that appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on December 12, one of the memes that went viral on social media platforms in South Korea read: “Yoon, the greatest lover who declared martial law for his wife.” Others have appeared comparing Kim to Lady Macbeth and Marie Antoinette.

Opposition figures have been calling for an investigation into the first lady of South Korea, who is 52, for alleged offences including stock manipulation and corruption.

In South Korea’s April parliamentary elections, opposition parties including the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) defeated Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) and took control of the National Assembly. Since then, the opposition has passed three separate bills to establish a special prosecutor to investigate the first lady, all of which Yoon has vetoed.

While the exact reason that Yoon, who has now been impeached, chose to impose martial law in the country on December 3 remains unclear, but some critics of his government and opposition leaders have suggested it was to help his wife.