On August 4, the special prosecutor team led by Lee Myunghyun, which is investigating allegations of external pressure in the case of the death of Marine Corps Corporal Chae, conducted a search and seizure related to the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jongseop as ambassador to Australia, targeting former Justice Minister Park Sungjae.
At a regular briefing that day, Special Prosecutor Jeong Minyoung stated, "The special prosecutor's office has been conducting a search and seizure since this morning in connection with the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jongseop as ambassador to Australia."
Special Prosecutor Jeong explained, "At that time, former Minister Lee was banned from leaving the country as a suspect on charges of abuse of power, yet he was appointed ambassador without issue through personnel verification and qualification review procedures. Although the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) expressed opposition, the Ministry of Justice lifted the travel ban. We have questioned officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice as references, and determined that additional materials were needed, so we are conducting the search and seizure."
The search and seizure targets include not only former Minister Park but also Lee Jaeyu, former head of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, and Park Haengyeol, former head of the Personnel Information Management Division at the Ministry of Justice. These individuals were involved in the controversy over the lifting of the travel ban on former Minister Lee in March 2024, and are currently under investigation as suspects by the special prosecutor's office.
However, former Minister Park's side issued a statement on the morning of August 4, saying, "The court rejected the search and seizure of my residence. Only my mobile phone and vehicle are subject to the search as a suspect," and protested, calling it "an excessive investigation by the special prosecutor."
Meanwhile, the special prosecutor's team will question former Defense Minister Kim Yonghyun at 10:00 a.m. on August 6. Taking into account that former Minister Kim is currently detained on charges of participating in an important mission related to insurrection, the investigation will be conducted at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. At 9:30 a.m. on August 8, the team will conduct a second round of questioning of Cho Taeyong, former Director of the National Security Office, who was previously questioned once on July 29.
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