After combing through land transaction records of employees, their spouses and immediate family members, the presidential office said it has discovered one possible case of land speculation.

Presidential secretary on public communications Jung Man-ho in a Friday briefing said the person in question has been employed by the Presidential Security Service since 2002. The staffer, who has a brother who works at the embattled Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH), had jointly purchased with family members over 400 square meters of land near a development project site back in September 2017.

The employee, who explained the land was bought with other family members in order to better support their parents after retirement, has been placed on standby since the land purchase came to be known earlier this week. 

The security service will hand over its findings to the government investigation team so the facts and possible illegality can be determined. 

No suspected cases of land speculation were found among staff members of the presidential secretary's office and the Office of National Security.