Prosecution obtains over 20,000 images from one of Mr. Myung Tae-kyun's phones, including 5 captures of conversations with First Lady Kim

[Anchor]

The claims and statements from those involved regarding the allegations of the presidential couple's involvement in candidate nominations are conflicting.

As a result, there is growing interest in the whereabouts of the so-called 'golden phone' that Mr. Myung Tae-kyun allegedly used during the presidential election.

Although the prosecution has not secured this mobile phone, they have obtained over 20,000 photos from another phone that Mr. Myung restored.

Among these, it has been confirmed that there are five captured conversations exchanged with First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

This is a report by Choi Jin-seok.

[Report]

Mr. Myung Tae-kyun brought three mobile phones to the forensics company last September.

They included the so-called 'golden phone' used during the presidential election, but the only one that was restored was a relatively recently used Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Mr. Myung retrieved over 20,000 photo files from the restored phone.

He later claimed that he disposed of the phone.

[Myung Tae-kyun/Sept. 9: "(The forensics company representative) said they couldn't perform a forensic analysis. We can't open it. It is useless. So we threw it away."]

The over 20,000 photos that Myung retrieved have been sent over into the prosecution's hands.

Last month, they secured all the recovered photos and messages during the search and seizure of the forensics company.

Among these, it has been confirmed through KBS reporting that there are five captured Telegram conversations Mr. Myung had with First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

The usage period of this phone was between late November last year and January 3rd of this year.

This was just before the application process for candidate nominations for the 22nd National Assembly elections began in the People Power Party.

There is a possibility that there were conversations related to the nomination of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun.

In fact, Mr. Myung discussed the nomination strategies of lawmakers Lee Jun-seok and Kim Young-sun during the 'Chilbulsa meeting' at the end of February, and around this time, he also had related conversations with First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

The fact that Mr. Myung used this phone until January 3rd, when the investigation request for the election commission was made public, and then replaced it, suggests that there may be key clues in the recovered files.

The core of this case is to clarify whether there was actual involvement of the presidential couple in candidate nominations and whether Mr. Myung provided free presidential election opinion polls to the presidential couple.

The people's interest is in whether the prosecution can uncover the truth behind the public's suspicions during the remaining period of Mr. Myung's detention investigation.

This is KBS News, Choi Jin-seok.