Prosecutors' Office Conducts Search and Seizure at Lee Gwang-cheol, Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary's Residence (Comprehensive)

Kwang-chul Lee, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (PCC) conducted a search and seizure at the residence of Lee Gwang-cheol, Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House.

On the 20th, the PCC's Investigation Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Choi Seok-gyu) sent investigators to carry out a search and seizure at Secretary Lee's residence and also requested a voluntary submission-type search at the Blue House. The PCC attempted to search Secretary Lee's office from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. that day, and the search and seizure at his residence was reportedly completed in the morning.

The PCC stated regarding the search and seizure, "It was conducted as part of the investigation into allegations of falsifying and leaking the interview report with Yoon Joong-chun," adding, "We secured related materials by searching the residence of Secretary Lee, a key person involved in the case." It is understood that through securing these items, the PCC is verifying whether Secretary Lee was actually involved in the process of falsifying the report.

Earlier, the PCC received the case involving Prosecutor Lee from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in March and formally registered it a month later on charges including falsification of official documents.

The PCC summoned Prosecutor Lee three times for questioning from late May to early last month. Additionally, on the 8th, the PCC conducted a search and seizure at the office of Prosecutor Investigator A, who worked with Prosecutor Lee.

Meanwhile, Secretary Lee submitted his resignation on the 1st after being indicted on charges related to the illegal travel ban of former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui. However, the resignation has not yet been accepted.

A Blue House official stated, "The Presidential Secretariat and others are designated as national security facilities, so instead of executing search warrants, they have cooperated with investigations through voluntary submissions," adding, "We will cooperate in the same manner regarding the PCC's warrant execution."

However, a PCC official said, "We cannot confirm details about the items seized."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.