Cho Kuk Says He Was Found Guilty Despite Illegal Evidence, Han Dong-hoon Fires Back: 'What is There to Feel Wronged About?'

The Democratic Party of Korea, the People Power Party, and independent Representative Han Dong-hoon engaged in a war of words on August 22 regarding the appellate court's acquittal of former Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Woong-rae, who had been indicted on charges of receiving illegal political funds.

The Democratic Party attacked Representative Han, bringing up comments he made in December 2022 during a plenary session of the National Assembly while explaining the necessity of processing the arrest consent motion for former lawmaker Noh when he served as the Minister of Justice under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, such as, "Even the rustling sound of money envelopes is recorded as is."

In contrast, Representative Han and the People Power Party emphasized that Noh was acquitted on the grounds of illegal evidence collection, criticizing President Lee Jae-myung and the ruling bloc for categorizing former lawmaker Noh as a victim of faulty prosecution by the prosecution service.

In a written briefing earlier that day, Democratic Party Spokesperson Shin Hyun-young commented on the trial of former lawmaker Noh, stating, "It took a staggering 3 years and 9 months to rectify the fabricated indictment and investigation by Han Dong-hoon's political prosecution, which abused state power," and demanded, "Representative Han, who turned an innocent person into a criminal, should apologize."

She also brought up the fact that Representative Han did not provide the password to his iPhone when he was under investigation in the past over suspicions of collusion between prosecutors and journalists, criticizing him by saying, "If you want to engage in legislative activities with confidence, you should first sufficiently explain your own case in which you concealed your iPhone password until the end," and adding, "The public clearly remembers Representative Han's past behavior, which was the epitome of a slick politician dodging accountability."

Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Innovation Policy Research Institute, also posted on Facebook targeting Representative Han Dong-hoon, pointing out, "This is an unconstitutional sophistry and still the stance of a prosecution-first fundamentalist," and adding, "The law dictates that the prosecution must not conduct 'illegal collection' of evidence."

He continued, "In my own case, I emphasized that illegally collected evidence had been submitted, but the judiciary under the Yoon Suk Yeol regime thoroughly ignored it," and stated, "Regardless of legal logic and principles, Cho Kuk became someone to 'kill' or 'discard,' so my case ended in a guilty verdict, but the exclusionary rule for illegally collected evidence must be maintained and enforced more firmly."

In response, Representative Han stated on Facebook, "The audio recording of the conversation between the broker and former lawmaker Noh played in the courtroom of Noh's case vividly contained not just the 'rustling sound of money envelopes,' but a frank conversation 'after the money was received.'"

He further stated, "If you are going to keep pretending as if you are wronged and innocent, let's all listen to that recording file together in the National Assembly."

He also mentioned that President Lee Jae-myung had excluded former lawmaker Noh from receiving a party nomination during the 2024 general election as the leader of the Democratic Party, and regarding the President's apology—which stated, "For the sake of the overall election, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and make a painful sacrifice by riding the coattails of the political prosecution's atrocities"—Han criticized it by saying, "He is playing a melodrama role over Noh Woong-rae's money envelope case," and adding, "It is an obvious scheme to build up momentum for dropping the indictment."

Directing his remarks at Institute Head Cho, Representative Han criticized him, saying, "Former lawmaker Cho Kuk seems to want to tag along in Lee Jae-myung's indictment-cancellation buildup tiki-taka," and asking, "Of all people, is even Cho Kuk stepping in to claim he was wronged?"

Representative Han wrote, "Criminals whose guilty verdicts were finalized by the Supreme Court, such as Cho Kuk and Kim Min-seok, are chiming in without even knowing shame, babbling about 'prosecution fundamentalism' and 'fabricated indictments,'" adding, "What on earth do people like you have to feel wronged about? Didn't former lawmaker Cho Kuk forge documents, commit admission irregularities, and obstruct inspections?"

The People Power Party also joined the wave of relentless attacks targeting President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party, using the appellate court's acquittal of former lawmaker Noh as leverage.

Representative Jang Dong-hyeok, a former judge, wrote on Facebook, "'It is not a ruling stating that he did not receive money.' It is merely that 'illegally collected evidence' was not recognized by the court. Yet [President Lee Jae-myung] even went as far as to send 'congratulatory remarks,' asking 'how wronged he must have felt,'" and asked, "Is 'corruption' committed by one's own side considered 'good corruption'?"

Senior Spokesperson Park Sung-hoon stated in a commentary, "This acquittal is not a ruling confirming the substantial truth that former lawmaker Noh did not receive money. The exclusion of evidentiary admissibility and the claim that the prosecution's investigation was fabricated are entirely different matters," aligning with Representative Han's argument.

Senior Spokesperson Park added, "We will never condone low-grade judicial defense politics that attempt to erase one's own judicial risks by using the Noh Woong-rae case as a shield."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

(Reported by Yoo Younggyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.