From Luxury Bags to Political Intrigue: The Controversial Acts of Pastor Choi

Pastor Choi Jae Young, who handed a luxury handbag to First Lady Kim Keon Hee of South Korea, has been summoned.

Upon appearing at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office on the 13th, Pastor Choi told the press, “Nothing would have happened if I hadn’t received anything.”

In September 2022, he was filmed giving a Dior bag worth approximately $2,500 to the First Lady, using a wristwatch-type hidden camera. After the video was released, a civic group reported him to the prosecutors for charges including home invasion and obstruction of public duty.

Pastor Choi Jae Young is a 62-year-old U.S. citizen and pro-North Korean activist who went to the U.S. in 1995 for the Unification Movement for the North Korean Ministry. In 1998, he established the social organization NK VISION 2020 in the U.S.

Since then, he has been concurrently conducting business in four areas – religion (Northeast Asia Religious Committee), history (Sohn Jung Do Pastor Memorial Academic Institute), media (Ojakgyo Forum), and economy (South-North Co-Growth Committee) – and aid activities for North Korea while traveling between South Korea and North Korea.

He even published a book, collecting the records of visiting the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery, a national cemetery in North Korea during his visit to North Korea. In an interview, he stated, “Let’s imagine when South Korea and North Korea are unified. Would we demolish the national cemetery of the other party, regardless of whether it’s a red unification or absorption unification? That’s not possible.”

His books include Going to the Church in the North, Sending a KakaoTalk Message from Pyongyang to Seoul, Everyone Becomes a Gourmet in Pyongyang, Seeking Religion in the North, Pyongyang Cold Noodles, 100 Questions and Answers to Understand the North, and Meeting the Differences in North Korea.

Through his books, Pastor Choi claims that “North Korea is a legitimate country, and the West, including the U.S., is distorting it.” He also spoke on the three-generation succession in North Korea, “The successor is not inherited by bloodline, but it has a logic of being appointed by the people and endorsed by the leader depending on their qualifications and character as a leader.”

Recently, it has become a topic of discussion that the books received as gifts were discarded when the presidential couple moved from Acro Vista in Seocho-gu to the official residence in Hannam-dong. Among those books were some written by Pastor Choi.

In 2018, he was investigated by the police on charges of violating the National Security Act.

It is known that Pastor Choi visited North Korea in October 2012, July 2013, and April 2014 to participate in local events, and separately faced charges for exchanging communications related to the North Korean UN mission and visiting schedules.

At that time, the NCCK (National Council of Churches in Korea), a left-leaning Christian organization, staged a protest, calling it public security oppression.

In January last year, Pastor Choi approached First Lady Kim, offering advice on North Korean pledges when President Yoon Suk Yeol was a candidate for the People’s Power Party, touting the fact that both are from Yangpyeong and his close relationship with her ancestors.

After catching the eye of First Lady Kim, Pastor Choi was invited to the presidential inauguration ceremony and was even invited to a diplomatic dinner at the Shilla Hotel’s Yeong Bin Gwan, attended by only about 150 people, including political and business figures and foreign envoys.

In response to criticism of this trap nature of reporting, Pastor Choi said, “Undercover is official and it’s entirely possible for the public’s right to know. It’s not a crime.”