German State Company Fires Ex-Chancellor Schroeder's Wife After Visit To Russian Embassy

The German state-owned foreign trade promotion agency NRW.Global Business said on Tuesday that it has fired the wife of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Soyeon Schroeder-Kim, after she attended an event at the Russian embassy in Berlin

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2023) The German state-owned foreign trade promotion agency NRW.Global Business said on Tuesday that it has fired the wife of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Soyeon Schroeder-Kim, after she attended an event at the Russian embassy in Berlin.

On May 9, the Russian embassy hosted a reception on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, the 1941-1945 segment of World War 2. Veterans, survivors of the Siege of Leningrad, Russian Orthodox Church representatives, as well as German public figures and journalists took part in the event. Other invitees besides Schroeder and his wife included ex-East Germany leader Egon Krenz, right-wing party Alternative for Germany leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alexander Gauland, and member of German parliament from The Left party Klaus Ernst.

"Schroeder-Kim has been dismissed with immediate effect and her employment will now be terminated without notice by NRW.Global Business," a company spokeswoman told German newspaper Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger.

She also said that the former chancellor's wife had been repeatedly advised not to comment on politically sensitive issues.

The company was once on the brink of dismissing Schroeder-Kim in 2022, but the Ministry of Economy of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia insisted at the time that she be kept employed, the newspaper said.

Kim-Schroeder was responsible for promoting North Rhine-Westphalia as a place for business in South Korea and for finding Korean companies that would want to enter the market.