The special counsel has booked Lee Joon-su (hereafter “Mr. Lee”) as a co-conspirator in the Deutsche Motors stock-manipulation case and, last month, conducted a search and seizure at his residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. However, Mr. Lee jumped from the second-floor veranda at the time and fled; his whereabouts remain unknown.
Mr. Lee is known to have exchanged hundreds of messages with First Lady Kim Keon-hee. He had been identified as part of the manipulation ring during the earlier prosecution’s Deutsche Motors investigation but was not indicted due to a lack of direct trading evidence. During its current investigation, the special counsel is said to have newly detected indications that Mr. Lee participated in trading through borrowed-name (straw) accounts. At the time, Mr. Lee was also wanted by police on drunk-driving charges. The special counsel’s team reportedly spotted him during the raid and requested that he be arrested, but he leapt and fled moments before police arrived.
Mr. Lee has long been cited as closely connected to the First Lady’s financial transactions. In particular, during the 2022 presidential election, Rep. Kim Eui-gyeom alleged that in April 2010 Mrs. Kim bought a large volume of Taekwang E&C shares amid sharp price swings and sold them the next day for a profit exceeding ₩10 million, raising suspicion of trading on material non-public information. The individual who effectively took over Taekwang E&C, pumped up the stock price, and was later convicted of embezzling company funds was precisely Mr. Lee Joon-su. This has reignited suspicions that Mrs. Kim may have bought and sold shares using non-public information provided by Mr. Lee.
The First Lady’s side has rebutted these claims, stating that while Mr. Lee may have contacted her unilaterally about investments, Mrs. Kim has never used non-public information and is not closely connected to him. They also denied that the two exchanged messages as recently as last year.
Dubbed the “third man” in the Deutsche Motors case and known as a former securities-firm analyst, Mr. Lee has long faced allegations that he coordinated price manipulation while simultaneously managing multiple investor accounts. There was internal testimony that he personally executed withdrawal orders from Mrs. Kim’s account. However, prosecutors did not indict him at the time, prompting criticism of a “soft-pedaled” investigation.
Mr. Lee has re-emerged following the disclosure of the First Lady’s mobile phone, because portions of her text and call logs reportedly overlap with individuals previously linked to stock manipulation. Observers say that if forensic-recovery results tie these communications to Deutsche Motors–related trading records, the previously faltering probe could flare back to life.
Mr. Lee’s whereabouts are still unknown, and the special counsel is tracking his post-escape movements and possible hideouts. Political and legal circles view the case as “an inflection point at which the network surrounding the First Lady’s financial dealings comes clearly into view,” and consider Mr. Lee—fingered as a hidden accomplice—to be the key variable that may determine the direction of the investigation.
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