Presidential protocol secretary resigns over child’s alleged bullying

Facing allegations that his daughter had bullied a schoolmate, Kim Seung-hee, the presidential secretary for protocol, resigned from his post Friday.

Kim offered to resign hours after the presidential office said it had launched an investigation into charges that Kim’s third-grade daughter had assaulted a second-grader at their elementary school in Gyeonggi Province.

According to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon, Kim’s resignation offer was accepted immediately.

“As a parent, I feel a deep sense of responsibility. I won’t be any burden to government administration,” Kim was quoted as saying by Lee.

Kim’s resignation came on the eve of the start of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Kim Young-ho of the main opposition Democratic Party claimed during a parliamentary audit session that the junior student suffered injuries requiring nine weeks to heal.

The lawmaker also claimed that on July 19, Kim Seung-hee’s wife changed her profile photo on mobile messenger app KakaoTalk to a photo of her husband with the president, the same day their daughter was suspended from school over the alleged bullying, an action he described as amounting to a display of power and “very inappropriate.”

Kim Seung-hee had been named the protocol secretary on April 14.