The second comprehensive special counsel team, led by Kwon Chang-young, has launched a compulsory investigation into the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office over allegations that an investigation into former first lady Kim Keon-hee's acceptance of a Dior handbag was covered up.
The special counsel team said Thursday it had dispatched investigators to conduct search-and-seizure operations at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and the Prosecution Bureau of the Ministry of Justice in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
The core of the Dior bag case involves allegations that Kim received a luxury handbag worth 3 million won ($2,200) from Pastor Choi Jae-young in September 2022 in return for a favor. Internet outlet Voice of Seoul released hidden-camera footage showing Kim receiving the Dior bag from Pastor Choi in November 2023, and filed a complaint against former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife the following month.
In May 2024, then-Prosecutor General Lee One-seok ordered the formation of a dedicated investigation team, and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office launched an inquiry. The investigation team met with Kim at a "third location" rather than at the prosecutors' office for questioning, and later cleared her of charges, citing a lack of connection to official duties or quid pro quo.
Subsequently, during investigations by the insurrection special counsel team and the Kim Keon-hee special counsel team, circumstances emerged suggesting that Kim had sent messages to then-Justice Minister Park Sung-jae seeking to have the prosecutorial investigation against her dropped, raising allegations of a "self-directed cover-up."
Kim reportedly sent messages to former Minister Park along the lines of "How is my investigation progressing?" Park then received updates on the status of the Kim-related investigation through internal Justice Ministry reports.
The Kim Keon-hee special counsel team, which investigated the case, conducted search-and-seizure operations at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the Ministry of Justice, but was unable to complete the probe due to insufficient investigation time and referred the case to the police.
After its launch, the comprehensive special counsel team, which took over the case again, began its full-scale investigation last month by raiding the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in connection with the "Deutsche Motors cover-up allegations." On the 13th of the same month, the team also imposed overseas travel bans on former Prosecutor General Lee One-seok and former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief Song Kyoung-ho, who were in the final approval chain at the time of the investigation.
