Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor, Searches Former Personnel Secretary Lee Won-mo... Summons Cho Tae-yong and Lim Ki-hoon for 'Investigation Pressure'

[Financial News] The Chae Sang-byeong special prosecutor team (Lee Myung-hyun special prosecutor) conducted a search and seizure on Lee Won-mo, former personnel secretary of the presidential office, who is suspected of being involved in the departure process of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop to Australia. 
Jung Min-young, Chae Sang-byeong special prosecutor, said in a regular briefing on the 8th, "From Monday to Thursday this week, we conducted a search and seizure related to illegal activities in the appointment, departure, return, and resignation process of the former minister as ambassador to Australia," adding that "the Presidential Archives, National Intelligence Resource Management Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice offices, and officials from the presidential office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice involved in the matter were subject to the search."
The special prosecutor also conducted a search and seizure on the body and vehicle of Lee Won-mo, former personnel secretary of the presidential office, on the night of the previous day. Jung special prosecutor said, "It is understood that discussions on the appointment of the former minister as ambassador to Australia took place between the personnel secretary's office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the former secretary was handling personnel-related tasks," explaining that related circumstances were detected, leading to the initiation of the search.
Jung special prosecutor is examining whether the personnel verification by the personnel information management team of the presidential office and the Ministry of Justice, the qualification review of the ambassador by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the lifting of the travel ban by the Ministry of Justice were conducted normally in relation to the appointment of the former minister as ambassador to Australia, adding that "an investigation will be conducted on the main suspects who were subject to the search after analyzing the seized materials."
The special prosecutor plans to focus on investigating how the "investigation pressure" was materialized after former President Yoon Suk-yeol's "rage" at the presidential office chief secretary meeting on July 31, 2023, targeting Cho Tae-yong, former National Security Office director, and Lim Ki-hoon, former presidential office defense secretary. In particular, they plan to look into the process where the initial investigation results of the Marine Corps investigation team were suddenly canceled, the investigation records were transferred to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency and then returned to the Ministry of Defense, and the involvement of the presidential office and the Ministry of Defense in issuing official statements.
From next week, the special prosecutor plans to focus on the process of the Ministry of Defense's reinvestigation into the death of Private Chae and the progress of the investigation into the charge of insubordination against Park Jung-hoon, former head of the Marine Corps investigation team (Colonel).
Meanwhile, the special prosecutor explained that no communication records directly related to the Chae Sang-byeong case have been confirmed in connection with the recently obtained encrypted phone of Kim Geon-hee. Currently, the imaging (data duplication) work of the encrypted phone has not been completed, and the call and message records related to the case from 2023 have not been identified.
Jung special prosecutor said, "If we can recover deleted data through forensic analysis, we may be able to recover records of contact with regular phones, but it has not yet been conducted," adding that "there were no transmission records from 2023 in the call records of the encrypted phone device stored on the security office server."

scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter