Did former South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook spend 62.92 million won on her in-flight meals during her visit to India in 2018? No, that's not true: The total cost covered in-flight meals charges for 50 members of the delegation, including freight and refrigeration costs.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok, on June 5, 2024, with no title. It opened, as translated by Lead Stories staff from Korean into English:
First lady Kim Jung-sook ate up in-flight meals that cost 62.92 million won on her Taj Mahal vacation.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jun 11 04:04:42 2024 UTC)
The video originated from YouTube (archived here) and was shared by another person on TikTok. The claim targets First Lady Kim Jung-sook's India visit in 2018 when her husband President Moon Jae-in was in office. Conservative politicians and their supporters claim that during her India visit from November 4, 2018, to November 7, 2018, Kim allegedly spent 62.92 million won (equivalent to over 45,000 USD) from taxpayers' money on luxury in-flight meals. The claim quickly spread as Member of Parliament Bae Hyun-jin from People Power Party (PPP) told the press (archived here) on May 31, 2024, that 62.92 million won was spent on her in-flight meals during the visit. MP Yoon Sang-hyun from PPP went even further, proposing a special prosecution (archived here and here) against ex-First Lady Kim, on June 3, 2024.
However, the claim is exaggerated, since liberal politicians revealed the detailed receipt, with different costs reported for the meals. On June 7, 2024, MP Yoon Gun-young (from the Democratic Party), MP Go Min-jeong (DP), and former Minister of Culture Do Jong-hwan held a press conference (archived here and here) and refuted the claim. MP Yoon Gun-young showed the detailed receipt of the costs and clarified that the 62.92 million won figure was a total, including freight and storage costs for the flights. MP Yoon explained that there was a 50-member delegation traveling, and that Kim spent 1.05 million won for her total 4 in-flight meals, according to the detailed receipt provided (archived here and here).
The TikTok video also claimed that Kim's India visit was not requested by the Indian government, but requested by Kim herself, as translated from Korean into English by Lead Stories staff:
The government-funded visit was not for diplomatic purposes, but tourism purposes, and the invitation was self-requested; if there was an order from Kim Jung-sook, she can be an accomplice to loss of National Treasury, according to Article 5 of the Act On the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes.
In the first half of the quote, the author claims the invitation of Kim Jung-sook was requested by herself. The claim originated from the PPP spokesperson's remark (archived here) on June 1, 2024. However, the claim was refuted by former Minister of Culture Do Jong Hwan, on a June 7, 2024, interview with CBS on Kim Hyung-jeong's News show (archived here). He was the Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism at the time; he was in office from June 16, 2017, to April 2, 2019 (archived here). As a minister in charge on the visit, Do said (archived here), translated from Korean by Lead Stories staff:
A self-requested invitation is impossible. The decision was at government level, I mean, the Korean government and the Indian government; on this type of inter-government level decision, you cannot ask 'please invite me,' that is not the case. Even though the claim itself is total nonsense in diplomacy, they keep repeating it again and again.
Minister Do also showed the original invitation letter from the Indian government during the interview:
(Source: YouTube screenshot of interview video taken on Fri Jun 14 01:19:23 2024 UTC)
During the trip, Kim visited the Taj Mahal (archived here). Minister Do stated that the program of the visit was also planned, upon the Indian government's request, during the same TV interview.
Moreover, Former President Moon Jae-in also stated that the visit and all expenses fell under the government's diplomatic activity, as stated in Facebook posts on June 4 and June 6, 2024 (archived here and here), on his Facebook account (archived here).
