Han Dong-hoon Criticizes President Lee: Noh Woong-rae's 'Melodrama' Is a Tactic to Drop Charges

Independent Lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has sharply criticized President Lee Jae-myung's social media message regarding the appellate court's acquittal of former Democratic Party Lawmaker Noh Woong-rae on illegal political fund charges, calling it "an obvious tactic to lay the groundwork for dropping the prosecution."

President Lee posted on social media yesterday (August 21) following Noh's acquittal in the second trial, mentioning that as the leader of the Democratic Party during the 2024 general elections, he had no choice but to exclude Noh from nomination.

President Lee stated, "Riding on the malicious practices of political prosecutors for the sake of the overall election, I had no choice but to make the painful sacrifice of a loyal subordinate."

President Lee then emphasized, "I will surely build a country where innocent citizens never fall victim to the abuse of state power again."

In response, Lawmaker Han posted on social media today, criticizing President Lee by saying, "After making a fool of yourself by playing patron to Baek Hae-ryong, you are now playing a melodramatic role over Noh's envelope of money incident."

Within the Democratic Party, various figures, including former Lawmaker Noh Woong-rae, have successively issued statements regarding the ruling.

Former Lawmaker Noh stated yesterday, "The wrongful investigation practices of the political prosecutors must now be ended," specifically pointing to Lawmaker Han Dong-hoon and stating, "He must be held clearly accountable for fabricating evidence by calling a simple rustling noise 'the sound of a money envelope rustling.'"

In December 2022, while serving as Minister of Justice, Han explained the necessity of processing the arrest consent motion for Noh, who was then a sitting lawmaker, during a plenary session of the National Assembly, stating, "Even the sound of money envelopes rustling is recorded as is."

Democratic Party Representative Kim Min-seok defended Noh on social media, writing, "This is a case where the prosecution ruined an innocent person's life with fabrication and framing," while Democratic Party Lawmaker Song Young-gil said, "If former Lawmaker Noh receives an acquittal, we will hold then-Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon strictly politically and judicially accountable."

Democratic Party Lawmaker Park Ji-won also joined in, stating, "The prosecution and Han, who was the Minister of Justice at the time, must answer how they will compensate for this unfairness."

Rebutting via social media, Han stated, "Noh was not acquitted because it was revealed that he actually did not receive money," adding, "He was acquitted on the formal grounds of the 'exclusion of illegally collected evidence.'"

Han continued, "Even in the courtroom for Noh's case, the recorded conversation file between the broker's wife and Noh that was played contained not just 'the sound of money envelopes rustling,' but explicitly detailed conversations that took place 'after receiving the money,'" proposing, "If they are going to continue to stubbornly claim they are unfairly wronged and innocent, let us listen to the recording file together at the National Assembly."

Han also pointed out, "Even if an acquittal was handed down on formal grounds by taking issue with the fact that prosecutors did not obtain an additional warrant and thereby excluding the evidence, the reality of receiving the money does not disappear," adding, "The attitude of Democratic Party lawmakers shouting shamelessly as if their party's politician did nothing wrong seems to perfectly demonstrate the problems of the Democratic Party."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.