By Lee Ji-yoon

A master seal-maker, who led a team to create the nation's fourth state seal in 2007, admitted that he is not trained in traditional seal-making techniques and used the leftover gold for personal purposes, police said Thursday.

Min Hong-kyu had previously denied all the allegations, claiming he was the only successor of the late master Chung Ki-ho, who made the nation's first state seal.

Police said, however, he reversed his previous statements after 10 hours of police questioning on Wednesday and expressed his willingness to apologize to the public.

"No one can produce the state seal in its original way of production currently in Korea. Because there was no way to verify, the Public Administration Ministry may have asked for the seal production based only on Min's claim," said a police official.

Police also found Thursday that Min has embezzled 1.2 kilograms of gold worth 40 million won (S$44,000).

According to police, he pocketed 600 grams of gold left over after making the golden seal and kept the utensil used for pouring gold into the mold, which also contained 600 grams of gold.

"It seems that four stamps that Min made after 2007 are made of some leftover gold of the state seal. Further investigations are under way as Min's statements are not clear," the official added.

Min is suspected of giving the golden stamps to politicians and sports stars and sell some of them to individuals at about 1.5 million won each.

Suspicions surrounding the fourth state seal were raised in early August after some of the manufacturing staff claimed that Min, then the team leader, had lobbied political figures with the leftover gold.

As other allegations about Min's credentials followed, the Public Administration Ministry, which is in charge of overseeing the seal production, requested on Aug. 20 that police investigate the accusations.

Now the ministry is agonizing whether it should continue to use the tainted state seal or commission a fifth one.

Called "oksae" in Korean, the state seal is considered a national symbol, and is used in official documents such as constitutional amendments, diplomatic affairs and the appointment of ranking officials and citations.

The current seal is the fourth since the foundation of the Republic of Korea in 1948. The first one is still missing.

After a crack was found in the third one, a fourth was made to replace it in 2007 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

"We need to wait for the final result of the police investigation. We will make a decision after hearing the public opinion and consulting with experts," said Kim Sang-in, spokesperson for the ministry.