Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon has been reported to the National Police Agency and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency on allegations that he derailed an investigation into his daughter's purported falsified credentials while serving as justice minister.
The Institute for Livelihood Economy and the online outlet Voice of Seoul said on the 14th that they had filed a criminal complaint with the National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency against Han and the prosecutors allegedly involved in quashing the investigation, citing abuse of authority and dereliction of duty.
According to the complainants, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and public crimes investigation unit asked the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Nov. 21, 2022, to request mutual legal assistance (MLA) in order to secure overseas evidence related to suspected copyright violations by Han's daughter.
The request was intended to verify allegations that Han's daughter had compiled an e-book using math problems created by someone else and sold it for 99 cents on Amazon, the U.S. e-commerce company. At the time, Han's daughter had also been reported to police over allegations of falsified credentials, including ghostwritten papers.
About 10 days later, on Dec. 2 of that year, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office decided not to forward the request to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Ministry of Justice, saying it had not been sufficiently established that the matter required judicial assistance and that the case was minor.
In their complaint, the groups said that according to multiple media reports, it is highly unusual for a district prosecutors' office to decline to forward a police request for assistance to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Justice Ministry on its own. They argued there is substantial room to view the decision as an exercise of duty in form only that in substance exceeded legitimate authority.
The groups added that the prosecutors' office was required under law and procedure to forward the request to the Justice Ministry. The prosecutor who decided against forwarding it appears not to have properly reviewed the necessity and effectiveness of the assistance request, which amounts to dereliction of duty, they said.
The complainants stressed that investigators should also examine whether Han, who was justice minister at the time, was involved in the decision.
The case involved the family of the sitting justice minister, and the rejection of the mutual legal assistance request took place during Han's tenure, the groups said. They called for a thorough examination of approval and reporting channels, records of contact with the Justice Ministry and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and whether the chain of command was involved.
The complainants also demanded a thorough reinvestigation of the various allegations surrounding Han's daughter, even at this late stage.
In May 2022, the same groups filed a criminal complaint with police against Han, his wife and their daughter over the alleged falsified credentials, citing obstruction of business and obstruction of official duties by deception. Police declined to refer the case to prosecutors in December of the following year, citing a lack of evidence of wrongdoing.
On the 12th of this month, Kim Jong-cheol, acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency, told a parliamentary audit of the agency by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee that he would not rule out the possibility of a full reinvestigation if new facts emerge.