Acting Prosecutor General Lee Jung-hyun: "Limits to Fact-Finding on Han Dong-hoon Allegations... Must Be Revealed Through Investigation"

Acting Prosecutor General Lee Jung-hyun (Deputy Prosecutor General of the Public Prosecution Service) stated regarding the allegations of leaking an indictment plan document concerning former Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won that there are limits to the Public Prosecution Service's internal fact-finding investigation into independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, and that an investigation must be conducted.

During today's (October 22) parliamentary audit of the Public Prosecution Service headquarters by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly, Acting Prosecutor General Lee stated that there are difficulties in conducting an internal fact-finding investigation by the prosecution regarding lawmaker Han's alleged document leak.

When Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Gyun-taek asked about the progress of the fact-finding investigation, Acting Prosecutor General Lee replied, "Relevant departments are thoroughly verifying the facts."

He then explained, "Ultimately, a fact-finding investigation presupposes the consent of the parties involved and has physical limitations as it can only be conducted on current officials," adding, "I determine that this ultimately needs to be revealed through an investigation."

During the parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Justice on October 8, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea had also demanded that Acting Minister of Justice Lee Jin-soo (Vice Minister) conduct a thorough fact-finding investigation regarding lawmaker Han's disclosure of an indictment plan—which is an internal prosecution document—in the process of raising "lobbying allegations" against former Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won.

At the time, in response to lawmaker Park's remark that investigations by the police and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency were expected regarding suspicions that lawmaker Han had intervened to hush up the investigation into his daughter's "false credentials" case, Acting Minister Lee Jin-soo replied, "We will actively cooperate."

Meanwhile, back in November 2022 when lawmaker Han was under investigation over suspicions regarding his daughter's "false credentials," the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency requested the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to "apply for international criminal judicial cooperation" to secure relevant overseas evidence, but the prosecution rejected the cooperation request on the grounds that the matter was minor.

As suspicions have been raised that lawmaker Han, who was the Minister of Justice at the time, intervened in the prosecution's rejection of the cooperation request, civic groups have recently filed successive complaints with the police and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency.

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