Special counsel raids National Education Commission over alleged bribery of ex-first lady
Published: 05 Sep. 2025, 13:09
Updated: 05 Sep. 2025, 14:36
![Lee Bae-yong, chairperson of the presidential National Education Commission, speaks at an appointment ceremony of educational experts at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on June 30. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/05/c032b287-b23e-459d-855b-67d5d28cdb3b.jpg)
Lee Bae-yong, chairperson of the presidential National Education Commission, speaks at an appointment ceremony of educational experts at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on June 30. [YONHAP]
A special counsel team said Friday that it raided the presidential National Education 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."
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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