Kwon Chang-young's second comprehensive special counsel team launched searches and seizures of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and other sites over alleged lenient investigations by prosecutors into first lady Kim Keon-hee.
According to legal sources, on the 2nd the comprehensive special counsel team was conducting searches and seizures of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and the Information and Communications Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, among others.
The comprehensive special counsel team said the targets included PCs used by investigators involved in the "Dior bag allegations," including alleged violations of the anti-graft law.
The case began when online outlet Seoul's Voice in Nov. 2023 released a hidden-camera video showing Kim receiving a Dior bag from Pastor Choi Jae-young. Seoul's Voice filed a complaint against former President Yoon and his wife in Dec. of the same year.
In May of the following year, then-Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok ordered the formation of a dedicated investigation team, and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office took over the probe. After meeting Kim at a "third location" rather than at the government complex and questioning her, the team said job relevance or quid pro quo was not established and dismissed the case.
During the probe launched later by the third special counsel, it emerged that in May 2024 Kim sent then-Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae a message asking about the formation of the dedicated team and the status of the investigation, sparking suspicions of a "self-arranged cover-up."
The Kim Keon-hee special counsel team also searched the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Ministry of Justice, but, citing a lack of investigation time, failed to conclude the case and handed it over to police.
After taking the case back, the comprehensive special counsel team, which searched the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the "Deutsch probe cover-up allegations" last month, launched additional searches and seizures on the 2nd.