Cha Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor to Summon Former Personnel Secretary Choi Ji-hyeon Tomorrow Regarding Lee Jong-seop's Escape

[Financial News] The special prosecutor team led by Cha Sang-byeong (Lee Myung-hyun, special prosecutor) is looking into the suspicions surrounding the appointment process of former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop as Ambassador to Australia, and has decided to summon former Presidential Personnel Secretary Choi Ji-hyeon for investigation. The plan is to examine the discussions held by the Presidential Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice regarding Lee's appointment, departure, return, and resignation as Ambassador to Australia.
Jeong Min-young, assistant special prosecutor Cha Sang-byeong, stated at a regular briefing on the 4th, "We plan to summon former Presidential Personnel Secretary Choi Ji-hyeon as a reference tomorrow at 1 PM regarding Lee's appointment as Ambassador to Australia," adding, "We will conduct a comprehensive investigation into the background of the ambassadorial appointment, the President's instructions, and the discussions held by the Presidential Office with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice."
Former Secretary Choi served as the Deputy Spokesperson of the Presidential Office under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and has been serving as the Personnel Secretary since January last year. Although not included in the previous search and seizure targets, Choi has been summoned as a reference due to the need to verify materials confirmed during the search and seizure related to the ambassadorial appointment suspicions.
The special prosecutor team is also looking into suspicions that a meeting of key defense industry officials was hastily organized to justify Lee's resignation. They are particularly focused on the process in which Lee, after attending a major defense industry meeting in March last year, returned to Korea 11 days after departure and expressed his intention to resign, which was approved by former President Yoon Seok-yeol.
Assistant Special Prosecutor Jeong stated, "There have been allegations in the National Assembly and media that the defense industry meeting was hastily organized to provide a reason for Lee's return," adding, "We are currently investigating by summoning key ambassadors who participated in the defense industry meeting as references yesterday and today."
However, the special prosecutor team does not plan to expand the investigation beyond the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the defense industry meeting. Assistant Special Prosecutor Jeong added, "Chronologically, the event closest to the time of resignation was the major defense industry meeting," confirming that the meeting was "indeed hastily organized. We are verifying the situation with the ambassadors who were the intended participants at the time."
The special prosecutor team plans to conduct the fifth suspect investigation against former Ministry of National Defense Legal Affairs Director Yoo Jae-eun at 1:30 PM on the 5th. In addition, the special prosecutor plans to investigate members of the "Stylish Marine" group chat, which has been identified as a channel for the "rescue lobby" allegations involving former Marine Corps 1st Division Commander Lim Seong-geun, next week.


scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter