▲ Rep. Han Dong-hoon (R) asks questions to Prime Minister Han Seong-sook during a parliamentary interpellation session at the National Assembly on Sept. 11, 2026. (Yonhap)

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with PM expressing regret; CHANGES headline)

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Han Seong-sook expressed regret Friday after a member of her staff attended a lawmaker's press briefing at the National Assembly the previous day and asked questions while claiming to be an ordinary citizen.

The incident happened Thursday when Rep. Han Dong-hoon, an independent, was holding a press briefing about a lobbying scandal involving the justice minister nominee. Halfway through the session, an unidentified person asked a question about Han's criticism of the prime minister.

Following a brief exchange, the lawmaker asked back who the person was affiliated with, and he responded that he was just an ordinary citizen. At that time, he was holding a mobile phone that displayed a Telegram chat room titled "room for the prime minister and key senior officials."

That individual was later found to be a director-level official of the Prime Minister's Office.

During a parliamentary interpellation session later that day, the lawmaker voiced strong outrage, accusing the Prime Minister's Office of conducting "illicit surveillance" on a lawmaker.

On Friday, the prime minister expressed regret.

"I offer words of regret to Rep. Han and to the people that (the official) caused unnecessary misunderstanding and controversy by answering that he is an ordinary citizen," the prime minister said during a parliamentary interpellation session Friday.

"I think it was inappropriate conduct for a public official to ask questions without clearly identifying himself at an opposition lawmaker's press conference," she said.

Her office said earlier that a stern warning was issued to the official.

However, it denied the lawmaker's claims of surveillance, saying the official asked questions in an impromptu manner while passing through the Rotunda Hall of the National Assembly, an area that anybody can access.

"It is not true that he intentionally sneaked into the presser," the office said.

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