Special counsel team seeks arrest warrants for ex-top office officials over 2022 relocation of presidential residence
![Former chief of staff Kim Dae-ki, who served during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, attends a questioning session held by a special counsel probe team in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on May 15. [NEWS1]](https://image.koreajoongangdaily.com/12579923.webp?imageId=12579923&width=960&height=662&format=jpg)
A special counsel team on Tuesday sought arrest warrants for three former presidential officials, including a former chief of staff to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, over alleged irregularities in the 2022 relocation of the presidential residence, legal sources said.
The team, led by special counsel Kwon Chang-young, filed for warrants to arrest former chief of staff Kim Dae-ki, former presidential secretary for administrative affairs Yoon Jae-soon and former presidential secretary for general affairs Kim Oh-jin. All three served during the previous Yoon administration.
The warrants accuse the three of abusing their power by illegally diverting the state budget to pay an interior design company for the renovation of the presidential residence following its relocation from the Blue House to Yongsan District, central Seoul.
The company, 21 Gram, is suspected of having won the project despite being unqualified due to its ties with Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, having designed and constructed the office of her content company.
The relocation of the presidential office and residence was one of Yoon's campaign pledges. Incumbent President Lee Jae Myung has returned both of them to the Blue House in Jongno District, central Seoul.
Yonhap
