The special counsel on Monday raided three-term conservative Rep. Yoon Han-hong's home and offices over alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's decision to relocate the presidential residence.
The counsel team, led by Kwon Chang-young, carried out search operations in his house in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, as well as his offices inside the National Assembly and Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
The special counsel suspects that the three-term conservative lawmaker abused his power to award a company tied to then-first lady Kim Keon Hee a contract to undertake the refurbishment of a building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul in 2022, which the now-disgraced presidential couple used as the presidential residence.
As part of the transition team, Rep. Yoon in 2022 led the project to relocate the presidential complex from Cheong Wa Dae in Jongno-gu — in a more secluded northern area of the capital — to a separate office and residence in the more central Yongsan-gu. Cheong Wa Dae recently regained its status as the presidential office under President Lee Jae Myung, while the residence remains separate.
Rep. Yoon became the first lawmaker to be targeted by a search and seizure operation by the special counsel launched on Feb. 25. He represents a Changwon Masan Hoewon electoral district.
The ruling party-led parliament passed a new special counsel bill to look into causes behind former President Yoon's political crisis that were not sufficiently investigated due to time constraints in the previous special counsel operations against the former presidential couple that concluded in December.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
