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Police refer ex-prosecutor to prosecution for forging document in Lee knife attack case

South Korean police have referred former prosecutor Kim Sang-min and two other officials to the prosecution on forgery charges related to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung. Kim is suspected of altering the weapon description in an internal National Intelligence Service report, which led the NIS to initially conclude the attack was not terrorism. The government later designated the attack as a terror case in January.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Jul 16, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

South Korean police have referred a former prosecutor and two other officials to the prosecution on forgery charges related to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung, according to Yonhap News Agency. The three individuals, who worked at the National Intelligence Service (NIS) during its investigation of the incident, were referred to the prosecution on July 3, police said Thursday.

Kim Sang-min, a former prosecutor, is suspected of indicating in an internal report that a "cutter knife" was used in the attack instead of the 18-centimeter knife that was actually used. Based on that report, the NIS had concluded the attack was not a terror case. The government formally designated the attack on Lee, which occurred while he was serving as opposition leader, as a terror case in January.

Coverage Comparison

Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's leading wire service, reported the development in two separate dispatches. Both reports carry the same core facts: the referral of Kim and two other officials, the suspected falsification of the weapon description, and the NIS's initial conclusion based on the report. One dispatch adds that police believe Kim intentionally drafted the report with false information to induce the conclusion that the attack was not terrorism. Both reports note that Kim is known for his ties to former first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Key Claims

Police referred Kim Sang-min and two other officials to the prosecution on July 3 on forgery charges related to the 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
Kim is suspected of indicating that a "cutter knife" was used in the attack instead of an 18-centimeter knife in an internal NIS report. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
The NIS concluded the attack was not a terror case based on the report. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
The government formally designated the attack as a terror case in January. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
Police believe Kim intentionally drafted the report with false information to induce the conclusion. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency in one of its dispatches.
The police task force also discovered another attempt by the attacker, surnamed Kim, to target Lee in December 2023, bringing the total number of attempts to six. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
The Supreme Court finalized a 15-year prison term for the attacker in February 2025. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.
Kim is currently standing trial on charges of gifting a painting by artist Lee Ufan to former first lady Kim Keon Hee in return for her help in securing him a nomination for an election in 2024. This was reported by Yonhap News Agency.

Context

The police task force, launched in January, has been investigating the attack and the government's response. With the latest referrals, the police will wrap up the investigation, according to Yonhap. Investigators also said that based on analysis of the attacker's mobile phone and YouTube viewing history, the attacker may have developed extreme views by selectively consuming content based on his political leaning.

How this outlet told it

Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC

Framing: Investigation into knife attack on President Lee — Neutral

Facts Included:

Kim Sang-min, a former prosecutor, and two other officials were referred to the prosecution on charges of forgery
The forgery charges are related to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung
Kim is suspected of indicating that a 'cutter knife' was used in the attack instead of an 18-centimeter knife
The NIS had concluded the knife attack was not a terror case based on the report
The government formally designated the attack as a terror case in January
Kim is known for his ties to former first lady Kim Keon Hee
The police discovered another attempt by the attacker to target Lee in December 2023
The Supreme Court finalized a 15-year prison term for the attacker in February 2025

Read the source article →

Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 4:30 AM UTC

Framing: Investigation into knife attack on President Lee — Neutral

Facts Included:

Kim Sang-min, a former prosecutor, and two other officials were referred to the prosecution on charges of forgery
The forgery charges are related to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung
Kim is suspected of indicating that a 'cutter knife' was used in the attack instead of an 18-centimeter knife
The NIS had concluded the knife attack was not a terror case based on the report
The government formally designated the attack as a terror case in January

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimKim Sang-min, a former prosecutor, and two other officials were referred to the prosecution on charges of forgery in relation to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe forgery charges are related to a 2024 knife attack on President Lee Jae Myung, in which Kim is suspected of indicating that a 'cutter knife' was used instead of an 18-centimeter knife.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe NIS had concluded the knife attack was not a terror case based on the report.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe government formally designated the attack as a terror case in January.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimKim is known for his ties to former first lady Kim Keon Hee.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe police discovered another attempt by the attacker to target Lee in December 2023.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC
ClaimThe Supreme Court finalized a 15-year prison term for the attacker in February 2025.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: Yonhap News — English 7 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15