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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Han Byung-do, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and head of the fact-finding team on allegations related to the Presidential Office, said on the 20th regarding the allegations related to the Presidential Office, "Some (tips) are coming in. We intend to focus on verifying the facts as much as the content," adding, "We plan to conduct a preliminary investigation on three main issues: private recruitment, preferential treatment in official residence construction, and massive budget waste, and the TF will make every effort to ensure a national audit is conducted."

Han Byung-do, head of the Truth Investigation Team on the Presidential Office-related Allegations of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the 1st meeting of the Truth Investigation Team on the Presidential Office-related Allegations held at the National Assembly on the 14th, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the same day, Representative Han appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and responded to a question about the future plans of the fact-finding team on allegations related to the Presidential Office.

Regarding the controversy over the new State Guest House construction, Representative Han said, "They say neither the Prime Minister nor the Blue House senior officials knew about it, but I don't know how to understand that," and pointed out, "If neither the Presidential Office senior officials nor the Prime Minister knew, then who was the subject of the discussion? There must have been discussions somewhere, but all responsible people say they only found out through the media." He added, "We cannot help but doubt whether the national governance system is functioning properly."

When asked about the opinion that "since President Yoon Seok-yeol has completely withdrawn the State Guest House construction plan, there is no need for fact-finding," he rebutted, "This is not an issue to be taken lightly." He explained, "The President promised the public that the Presidential Office relocation would be possible with a budget of 49.6 billion won, but the State Guest House construction cost came out to 87.8 billion won. It seems that an enormous budget will be spent going forward, and if we do not evaluate it accurately, it will become a bigger problem." He also said, "We are requesting documents on where the specific site was expected to be, but the Ministry of Economy and Finance is continuously stalling," adding, "We plan to investigate this during the upcoming national audit period."

Regarding the Democratic Party's claim that Mrs. Kim Geon-hee ordered the new construction, he said, "During the election process, Mrs. Kim Geon-hee made a statement that 'if we win, we will move the State Guest House,' which raises suspicion," and added, "Since no responsible person knows anything, we are questioning where the discussion was held, and naturally, we have reasonable doubts."

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