[이주의 김건희] Official resignation as CEO of Cobana Contents after 13 years

U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Kim Kun-hee prior to a welcome dinner at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul, on May 21. [사진=연합뉴스]

President Yun Seok-yeol’s wife, Kim Geon-hee, officially resigned from the position of CEO of Kovana Contents, an art exhibition and planning company.

According to the political circles on the 3rd, Mrs. Kim recently held a general shareholders’ meeting and stepped down from the position of representative for the first time in 13 years. The legal effect of her resignation took effect on the 31st of last month. Her remaining term ends in September 2024. Previously, he established Cobana Contents in 2009 and then took office as an inside director and CEO, serving a three-year term for four consecutive terms.

Kun-hee Kim begins to announce the name of the famous exhibition of Cobana Contents

Mrs. Kim has grown Kobana Contents into an exhibition planning agency in Jiangsu that has considerable influence in the industry. She made a name for herself with her works before ‘The Immortal Painter Van Gogh’ in 2012, followed by ‘The Painter Gauguin Paints Paradise and After’ in 2013.

President Moon Jae-in received attention while viewing the exhibition ‘Jumping with Love’ held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul in 2014. He also planned major exhibitions such as the exhibition of Russian-born American painter Mark Rothko, the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier, and the Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti.

In particular, the ‘Mark Rothko’ exhibition, which was planned by borrowing works from the National Museum of the United States in 2015, and the ‘Le Corbusier’ exhibition, which was presented the following year, each won the grand prize in the exhibition category at the Arts Awards hosted by the Seoul Arts Center.

US President Joe Biden said, “I know very well,” referring to the ‘Mark Rothko’ exhibition during his last visit to Korea, and Mrs. Kim delivered the exhibition catalog as a gift.

Under the current law, the spouse of the president is not granted a separate legal status, so there are no restrictions on business. However, it appears that Mrs. Kim is determined to stop her for-profit business through Kovana content in order to support President Yun.

First Lady Geon-hee Kim waits for the turn of voting at the advance polling place at the Yongsan-gu Assembly in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on May 27, the first day of early voting for the June 1 national simultaneous local election. [사진=연합뉴스]

◆Presidential Office “Recognition of the necessity of Kim Kun-hee in charge and work staff”

During a briefing on the morning of the 31st of last month, an official from the presidential office said, “I am feeling a sense of the problem that Mrs. Kim needs an organization to assist her in her future activities.” Those who can do it are aware of the need.”

This is a part of preparing a countermeasure against the so-called ‘controversy over leaking fan cafe photos of the president’s office’ recently raised by Mrs. Kim. As President Yoon’s presidential campaign pledged to abolish the post office of the second annex to assist the first lady, it is expected that some of the staff in charge of the first lady’s affairs will be placed in the office of the president.

However, Kim Nam-guk, spokesman for the Democratic Party’s Election Countermeasures Committee, pointed out in a written briefing on the 31st of last month, “What Ms. Kim is doing now is not a quiet help, but to brag about her celebrity life.”

“At the time of the last presidential election, Mrs. Kim held a press conference when various allegations such as false academic background and career arose, and announced that she would do her best to ‘quiet domestic help’. The promise was abruptly broken when various controversies arose after the private photo of the woman was released through the fan club of Mrs. Kim.”

“To find the cause of this controversy in the lack of manpower to assist Ms. Kim is to ignore the essence of the matter,” he said.

He also demanded, “It is arrogance to cover the sky with the palm of your hand to resolve the controversy over Mrs. Kim’s inappropriate activities by reviving the second annex.”