Special counsel raids home of ex-election commission chief Roh Tae-ak over overseas trips

The special counsel team led by Lee Tae-han searched the home of Roh Tae-ak, former chair of the National Election Commission and a former Supreme Court justice, at about 08:10 on 21 October. Hankook Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo reported that 12 people took part, including two dispatched prosecutors and seven investigators. The team seized Roh's mobile phone and other items. From 09:00 it also searched the central National Election Commission, which Hankook Ilbo located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi. [ 2 , 4 , 7 , 10 , 12 , 13 ]

The team said the search followed signs that a commission official entered false facts in the official overseas trip result report linked to Roh's trips while he chaired the commission. Kyunghyang Shinmun and Seoul Economic Daily reported that the warrant lists occupational embezzlement and fabrication and use of false official documents. Seoul Economic Daily said it was not disclosed what was falsified in the report or how much money is suspected of being embezzled. [ 4 , 5 , 10 , 13 , 15 ]

Chosun Ilbo reported that Roh took his spouse on three trips while in office, to Australia and New Zealand in 2022, Germany and Estonia in 2024, and Denmark and Sweden last year. It said last year's trip used 9.053 million won of commission budget. Kyunghyang Shinmun put the cost of the three trips at about 226 million won. [ 7 , 13 ]

According to Chosun Ilbo, a joint prosecution-police task force that investigated before the special counsel obtained statements and materials in August that an employee was assigned to Roh's spouse on the trips. The trip report said that employee attended official events such as meetings with Roh and local officials, but the investigation found the employee accompanied the spouse's separate schedule. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported the same for the 2024 and 2025 trips. [ 7 , 13 ]

Chosun Ilbo reported that at a National Assembly special committee hearing on 23 June, Roh said that everyone had always done it that way, that no one had objected and that he had therefore not had any particular doubts. He also said he was deeply sorry. Chosun Ilbo described the search as the first of a current or former Supreme Court justice's home since the 2018 prosecution inquiry into alleged abuse of judicial administration power. [ 7 ]

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that a man in his 40s, a grade-5 central commission official, was found dead the same morning at an apartment in Hwaseong. He had been questioned as a suspect the previous day over alleged bid-rigging. The commission said he had been questioned until late at night. The special counsel said that was untrue and that the questioning ended at about 20:55 with his lawyer present, followed by record review until 23:00. [ 13 ]

The special counsel said it would analyse the seized material to establish the facts and responsibility for alleged lavish overseas trips by current and former commission members and staff. Seoul Economic Daily reported that it had already searched the central commission and local commissions on 14 and 15 October over alleged false entry of voter numbers and favouritism in an election-supplies storage contract. [ 4 , 10 , 15 ]