When high-end art dealer Yung Hee Kim was charged with smuggling wads of cash into the country last month, it shocked the New York social set who knew her only as a glamorous and “exotic” beauty.
But Kim’s highly publicized cuffing by a federal agent in the hallway of her Fifth Avenue apartment building has put the soft-spoken stunner in the spotlight – exposing a secret web of lawsuits and suitors.
The arrest, The Post has learned, was the sixth time Kim’s been brought to court over the past 14 years – during which time the mystery woman has been linked to big-time players including WorldCom’s Francesco Galesi, architect Richard Meier and her still-loyal ex-husband, fashion czar Lee Mellis.
Curiously, all these men have a signature shock of wavy white hair.
Currently out on $150,000 bail posted by Mellis, Kim called the Jan. 21 federal charge of concealing $191,700 in a pair of sexy tall boots and a travel bag she sent to her home an “embarrassment.”
“I do some people some favors . . . and I would get some gift. Instead of getting something for me as an expression of their appreciation they say, ‘I don’t know what to buy for you,’ so they give me cash,” she told The Post.
“I hope this will all go away. I’m confident that I’m not really guilty of this charge.”
A call to the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not returned.
Kim, who had a modest upbringing in South Korea, where her family still lives, would not say exactly when she arrived in New York – about 15 years ago.
No one – even her friends – knows much about Kim’s background. Friends did not know where Kim was born, her education or even her citizenship.
She is, however, well loved by the paparazzi at fund-raisers and gallery openings – her tailored designer clothes stand out from the garish silks and satins of the uptown social set.
“I do make an effort,” she said. “I try to look professional.”
But Kim is best known for her killer body – which she attributes to teaching “core fusion” classes at her local gym.
In a whispery voice, Kim, 51, admits to other brushes with the law.
On July 24, 2004, she was wrist-slapped for falsely declaring $9,500 in cash she brought with her from her homeland. “I was caught for not declaring the entire amount . . . The real amount was like $19,000,” she said.
And in 1996, auction house Christie’s took Kim to Manhattan Supreme Court for failing to pay for $139,200 in emerald and diamond jewelry for which she bid on Dec. 9, 1996. They settled out of court.
“I bought it on behalf of my client, and they changed their mind,” she said. “I am not a jewelry person. I don’t wear that. I can’t afford it in any aspect.”
It is also unclear how Kim could afford the several uptown condos and co-ops she has owned at landmark addresses on Central Park South and Lexington Avenue.
At least three cases in Kim’s Supreme Court rap sheet indicate utility and maintenance bills were a problem. In 1992, Citibank and Greenpoint Bank each foreclosed on her East 61st Street apartment managed by Savoy Condominiums – which also took Kim to court for an unpaid $72 electricity bill.
“Those were just unfortunate things,” Kim said.
Seemingly blasé about the string of charges against her, Kim has established herself in the upper echelons of the city’s social set, including meetings with many of Gotham’s leading men.
Three people who saw them together on a regular basis told The Post she had a long-term relationship with Galesi, a married millionaire who lost most of his fortune in the WorldCom scandal and was forced to sell his almost $30 million Southampton mansion in 2003.
“She was dating him and Richard Meier at the same time, which was astounding – I mean they are extremely sought after. She pitted them against each other,” said one social-scene denizen who did not want his name published.
Meier, the award-winning architect who designed such landmarks as the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, told The Post he never had a relationship with Kim. “I am otherwise involved,” he said.
“She’s been very nice every time I have met her. I have had dinner with her and a group of friends a couple of times. I couldn’t believe [the recent federal charges]. The little I know of her, she seems like a straight-forward person.”
Ex-husband Mellis angrily denied any suggestion that Kim, who now runs an art dealership, is anything but an “ordinary, hardworking girl.”
“I’m just upset there’s this interest. Every story that’s written about her in the newspapers is never good,” he said.
Other observers describe a secretive and sultry persona. “She’s a mystery woman, but I’ve known her forever,” one friend said. “She’s tall, erotic, exotic, sexy and dangerous.”
Kim declined to reveal whom she is dating now. “Yes, I am seeing someone, but it is private,” she said.