Special counsel raids Nat'l Education Commission over alleged bribery of ex-first lady
Lee Bae-yong, chairperson of the presidential National Education Commission / Yonhap
A special counsel team said Friday it raided the presidential National Educational Commission (NEC) over bribery allegations involving its incumbent chief and former first lady Kim Keon Hee.
Prosecutors and investigators from special counsel Min Joong-ki's team searched the commission in the morning to secure possible evidence on suspicions that NEC Chairperson Lee Bae-yong was appointed to the ministerial post after giving a gold gift to Kim.
The probe into Lee came after the special counsel team discovered a golden turtle weighing 10 don (37.5 grams) and a letter apparently written by Lee to former President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim, during a separate raid targeting Kim's mother.
The team suspects the turtle was given as a gift to Kim in exchange for Lee's appointment as the inaugural chief of the commission in September 2022. Lee offered to resign on Monday, days after the special counsel raided her residence.
The special counsel team said it also launched a raid on the Presidential Security Service in the morning to receive "necessary materials for a related investigation."
During a press briefing later in the day, it elaborated that the search was related to allegations that Kim and then PSS deputy chief Kim Seong-hoon organized a private party aboard a Navy vessel during Yoon and Kim's summer vacation in 2023.