Wife of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Fired from Job After Attending Russian Embassy Reception

Seo Yong Schroeder-Kim, the wife of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, was fired from NRW.Global Business after participating with her husband in a reception at the Russian Embassy on May 9. About it informs DW.

“Schröder-Kim has been relieved of her position immediately and her employment relationship with NRW.Global Business will be terminated without prior notice,” Mona Neubaur, spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalia state minister of economics, told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.

Schroeder-Kim served as the company representative in South Korea. The decision to dismiss was made on May 16.

The company said it “repeatedly pointed out to Schroeder-Kim that representatives should not speak out on politically sensitive topics, in particular regarding Russia’s war of conquest against Ukraine.”

SEE ALSO: Gerhard Schroeder sues the Bundestag for depriving him of the privileges of the former German chancellor

Gerhard Schröder was German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. In 2017, he headed the board of directors of Rosneft, but in May 2022 he announced that he was leaving his post. This happened after the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the inclusion of the former German chancellor in the EU sanctions list for cooperation with Russian state-owned companies.

Schroeder is considered one of President Vladimir Putin’s close associates. After the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he traveled to Russia and met with Putin. They discussed the war in Ukraine and the export of Russian oil and gas to Europe. The German politician also did not publicly condemn the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine. For this he was criticized in Germany.

Last May, the Bundestag stripped Schröder of his office and staff, leaving him with a pension and bodyguards. in the budget committee explainedthat Schroeder is not fulfilling any obligations as a former chancellor, so there is no reason to provide him with employees and an office.