"Lenient Probe into Daughter's Ghostwriting" vs. "Bill Proposed for Son"

[Anchor]

At the parliamentary audit of the Korean National Police Agency today (October 12), ruling party lawmakers launched an offensive against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon. Clashes continue between the Democratic Party, which revived allegations of a ghostwritten paper involving Han's daughter, and Han, who re-summoned allegations regarding the son of Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok.

Jeong Yunsik reports.

[Reporter]

This was the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee's parliamentary audit of the Korean National Police Agency.

Questions from Democratic Party lawmakers focused on allegations of 'false credentials' during the high school years of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon's daughter—allegations that had previously surfaced during his confirmation hearing in 2022 when he was a nominee for justice minister.

[Kim Young-bae / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Regarding the allegations of false credentials for his daughter, I called it the 'Han Dong-hoon version of SKY Castle.']

Ruling party lawmakers sharpened their criticism, claiming that the police, who investigated the allegations that Han's daughter had a paper ghostwritten for one year and eight months, conducted a 'lenient investigation.'

[Youn Kun-young / Democratic Party Lawmaker: There was not a single search and seizure or warrant request. Did you neglect it because it was a case involving a formidable justice minister?]

[Kim Jong-cheol / Acting Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency: If new facts are revealed, we will not rule out the possibility of a reinvestigation.]

Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Deuk-gu also went on the offensive today, arguing that allegations that Han's daughter exaggerated her high school volunteer service records in 2020 were not properly investigated either.

[Kang Deuk-gu / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The request for international mutual assistance was rejected. The sword of the political prosecution came to a halt in front of Minister Han Dong-hoon's family.]

Rep. Han, who had previously clarified that there was no issue regarding the ghostwritten paper allegations, released a police decision of non-referral today in which the police concluded 'no charge' in December 2023 regarding her volunteer activities, emphasizing that he would take legal action against the spread of false information.

Earlier, Rep. Han had criticized ruling party lawmakers, saying they had proposed a bill similar to a 'plagiarism prevention' draft created by Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok's son during his high school club activities in 2022, accusing them of 'privatizing the public office of a lawmaker.'

This was an allegation raised by the opposition party in June last year when Kim was a prime minister nominee, but Rep. Kang, who was the lead sponsor of the bill, rebutted today, saying, "I only introduced it because the proposal was good."

(Camera by Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Nam Il)

※