Former Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae. Yonhap News,
The special prosecutor team led by Lee Myung-hyun, investigating the alleged external pressure in the case of Sergeant Chae, commenced a search and seizure on August 4th against former Minister of Justice Park Seong-jae in connection with former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop’s ‘alleged escape to the Australian embassy.’
On this day, the special prosecutor team is executing search and seizure warrants on former Minister Park’s mobile phone and vehicle. Simultaneously, the team is also conducting a search and seizure of the residence of former director of Immigration and Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Justice, Lee Jae-yoo.
Former Minister Lee Jong-seop faced a travel ban as he was under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in connection with the alleged external pressure in Sergeant Chae’s death investigation. However, when Lee was appointed as the ambassador to Australia, and the Ministry of Justice accepted his appeal related to the case, lifting the travel ban, suspicions of escape were raised.