A shallow pool inside South Korea’s presidential residence has sparked a debate among lawmakers over whether it was used by former president Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife for their pets.
There has been increasing speculation that the pool was used for pets and not humans, said Representative Kim Byoung-joo at a meeting held on Monday by the Democratic Party, which became the country’s ruling party following President Lee Jae-myung’s election win last week.
“I’ve looked around the space inside the official residence of the president, and a pool grabbed my attention,” said Kim, who visited the residence in the centre of Seoul along with other Democratic Party lawmakers on Saturday, according to a report by The Korea Herald.
The pool appeared to have a length of five metres long, a width of two metres and a depth of 50cm at the shallow end.
“We should closely examine whether the Yoons installed facilities for personal use with taxpayers’ money after moving into the official residence, where no one can monitor how the money is being spent,” Kim said.
The lawmaker added that Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, were believed to also have a cat tower worth 5 million won (US$3,680).
