A special counsel team says a construction company has admitted that it presented a diamond necklace to former first lady Kim Keon-hee in 2022.

Deputy special counsel Oh Jeong-hee told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday that the team, led by special counsel Min Joong-ki, secured a written statement from Seohee Construction to the effect that the firm provided Kim with the Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace valued at some 60 million won, or roughly 43-thousand U.S. dollars.

Kim was photographed wearing a necklace fitting that description during the NATO summit in 2022. 

The construction company said Kim returned the necklace years later, and on Monday the company voluntarily handed it over to the team’s investigators during a raid.

The special counsel team submitted the necklace to the court as evidence during Kim’s pretrial detention warrant hearing Tuesday.

The team also submitted a knock-off version of the necklace that was in seized in a raid of the residence of Kim's family member, which the former first lady has said she bought in Hong Kong 20 years ago as a gift for her mother.

The special team said Kim testified about the counterfeit necklace even when it was clear she wore the genuine necklace at the 2022 NATO summit in Spain, adding that it plans to investigate whether the use of the fake necklace was an attempt to tamper with evidence.