In the photo on the left, South Korea's first lady Kim Keon-hee holds a Cambodian child suffering from heart disease during her visit to the boy's home in Phnom Penh, Saturday. In the photo on the right, actress Audrey Hepburn holds a child during her visit to a UNICEF-assisted feeding center in Baidoa, Somalia, in 1992. Courtesy of presidential office, captured from UNICEF Facebook

By Nam Hyun-woo

First lady Kim Keon-hee is back under the microscope on Monday, this time for her charity work during President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to Cambodia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. She was photographed holding a boy suffering from a congenital heart disease, and some opposition politicians are claiming that she tried to imitate an image of "Roman Holiday" star Audrey Hepburn in war-torn Somalia back in 1992.

According to the presidential office, Kim, who is accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol on his trip to Cambodia and Indonesia, visited the child's home on Saturday.

Kim was supposed to meet the boy a day earlier when she visited Hebron Medical Center in Phnom Penh, a facility established in 2007 by a South Korean pediatrician, but the boy did not show up to the event due to his condition.

Kim decided to meet the boy instead of visiting Angkor Wat as part of an official program for first spouses that the Cambodian government had set up, the presidential office said.

"You can beat it, right? Get well and let's meet in South Korea," Kim was quoted by deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung as saying to the boy.

The photos of Kim holding the boy grabbed the attention of the Korean public.

Wearing a black short-sleeved polo-style shirt and white pants, Kim was holding the boy in her arms while staring into the distance. People online soon compared this photo with Hepburn's photo taken during her visit to a UNICEF-assisted feeding center in Baidoa, Somalia, in 1992.

In the 1992 photo, Hepburn was wearing a dark polo-style shirt and light-colored chino pants, staring into the distance while holding a child in her arms. Online users and main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Kim Yong-min accused the Korean first lady of mimicking the British actress.

"If you want to emulate someone, try to emulate their spirit and sacrifices, not their pose or attire," Kim wrote on Facebook. "Also, please start by abandoning the evil of using those who are suffering as ornaments."

During a party meeting on Monday, DPK Rep. Jang Kyung-tae accused the presidential office of resorting to "poverty porn" and chided the first lady for committing a "diplomatic discourtesy" for ducking out of the official program for first spouses.

Former DPK lawmaker Kim Jin-ae also wrote on Facebook, "Is it justified in the diplomatic arena to reject the official spouse schedule?" and added, "Why are there are so many photographs of Kim? The first lady is a public figure not a celebrity."

This is not the first time that Kim has found herself mired in criticism for being accused of impersonating the iconic styles of famous women in official photos taken by the presidential office.

In September, online posts went viral comparing Kim's photographs taken during President Yoon's overseas trips with photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy, the first lady of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

"She skipped the official spouse program and cosplayed Audrey Hepburn at the sick boy's home," former National Intelligence Service head Park Jie-won said in a radio interview Monday. "Also during a meeting with Korean nationals in Cambodia, she wore a sleeveless dress, which is similar to one Jackie Kennedy wore in the past."

In the photo on the left, first lady Kim Keon-hee and President Yoon Suk-yeol walk into a park in Madrid, Spain, in this photo released by the presidential office on July 3. In the photo on the right, Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, walks with her children in October 1968. Courtesy of presidential office, Korea Times file

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) accused the opposition of nitpicking Kim's behavior, and cited a 2018 India trip by Kim Jung-sook, first lady of former President Moon Jae-in of the DPK.

"The DPK is throwing a tantrum that everything Kim Jung-sook does is virtue, and everything Kim Keon-hee does is disastrous," PPP Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon wrote on Facebook. "I prefer a first lady who does volunteer work with our neighbors who are having difficulties like Audrey Hepburn at least a thousand times more than a first lady who acts like a tourist."

The former first lady stirred controversy when she visited India for four days from Nov. 4, 2018, without former President Moon. During her trip, she used the presidential jet carrying the president's emblem and visited the Taj Mahal, triggering criticism that she had gone on a junket.