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Special counsel team raids ex-presidential chief of staff's home in Yongsan relocation probe

Published: 07 Apr. 2026, 16:58 Updated: 07 Apr. 2026, 17:11

Former presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki arrives at a special counsel team's office in southern Seoul on Oct. 27, 2025. (NEWS1)

Investigators on Tuesday raided the home of a former chief of staff to former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his suspected role in inflating the cost of relocating the presidential residence in 2022, a special counsel team said.

The team, led by special counsel Kwon Chang-young, said raids were carried out at the homes of Kim Dae-ki and Yoon Jae-soon, a former presidential secretary for administrative affairs, as well as the ministries of budget, finance and the interior.

The total cost of the relocation of the presidential residence from the Blue House to the central Seoul district of Yongsan reportedly came to more than 1.4 billion won ($931,000).

“We confirmed that with regard to the residence relocation project, an unqualified contractor submitted a construction cost estimate that lacked an objective basis, such as design drawings," assistant special counsel Kim Ji-mi said during a press briefing.

“We found indications that in order to pay this amount, the budget of administrative ministries was unlawfully diverted and executed at the instructions of the presidential office, without going through the verification or adjustment procedures," the counsel added.

The two former Yoon aides have been booked as suspects and banned from leaving the country.

The special counsel team launched in February to investigate unresolved allegations surrounding the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

The former first lady is suspected of using her influence to award the presidential residence renovation contract to 21 Gram, an interior design company that was previously involved in designing and constructing the office of her cultural content company.

The relocation and renovation of the presidential residence proceeded in tandem with the relocation of the presidential office in line with one of Yoon's campaign pledges.

Yonhap