▲ Reps. Kang Jun-hyun and Lee Jung-moon of the Democratic Party of Korea, members of the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, protest in front of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission at the Sejong Government Complex in June 2024, criticizing the commission's decision to close the case regarding luxury bag allegations involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee on the grounds that there are no regulations for sanctions.
The police have conducted a search and seizure operation to investigate allegations of abuse of power regarding the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission's (ACRC) decision to close the case involving allegations that First Lady Kim Keon-hee received a luxury bag.
The Special Investigation Headquarters for cases transferred from the special counsel at the National Police Agency announced today (July 20) that it is conducting a search and seizure in connection with charges including abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights against former ACRC Chairperson Yoo Cheol-hwan and former ACRC Vice Chairperson Jung Seung-yoon.
The special investigation team has been seizing relevant materials from the offices of the ACRC chairperson and vice chairperson in Sejong City since 11:00 a.m.
Previously, the special investigation team also conducted a search and seizure at the residence of former Vice Chairperson Jung from 12:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on July 16.
At the time, the ACRC closed the case, citing reasons such as the lack of relevance to the president's official duties and the claim that even if there were such relevance, gifts received by the president's spouse are managed as presidential records and thus not subject to reporting obligations.
Subsequently, the ACRC Normalization Task Force (TF) concluded that there were procedural issues in the handling of the case and requested an investigation by the National Office of Investigation.
The police are continuing their investigation by merging the relevant case transferred from the special counsel with the case requested for investigation by the ACRC.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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