Kim Jong-cheol, acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, said on the 12th that he would not rule out a full reinvestigation into allegations that police mishandled a case involving fabricated credentials by the daughter of Rep. Han Dong-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party, if new facts emerge.
Lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea and allied parties pressed the issue throughout the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of the police agency, demanding documents from the moment the session opened.
Rep. Kim Young-bae of the Democratic Party said the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency requested mutual legal assistance in the criminal case in November 2022, that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office returned the request, and that the case was closed in December 2023 with findings including no grounds for charges. "Police failed to properly investigate a person in power," he said, citing allegations that a Kenyan national ghostwrote work and that math problems were plagiarized. He demanded the full set of official letters exchanged between police and prosecutors at the time. Rep. Jung Choon-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party also called for the letter returning the mutual legal assistance request, the decision not to refer the case to prosecutors, and minutes of the investigation review committee. Rep. Yoon Kun-young of the Democratic Party requested the official letters police sent to 14 related institutions along with the replies received.
In his main questioning, Yoon detailed how police handled the investigation. "Over 20 months, police called in the complainant six times but questioned the accused only once, in writing, and never conducted a search or sought a warrant," he said. "Compared with the 131 searches carried out in the case involving Kim Hye-kyung, this was a biased investigation that went easy on the subject."
He added that police had arbitrarily interpreted the failure of three of the 14 institutions to reply as a matter of there being "no applicable rules," and that the then-chief of the National Office of Investigation had given a briefing at odds with the facts by saying many witnesses had been questioned. He called for an internal inspection at the agency level.
Jung also questioned how police responded after prosecutors returned the mutual legal assistance request. "When prosecutors sent the request back, police did not supplement the grounds and submit it again," she said. "Police carried out 90 searches in the investigation into the children of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, yet they stopped short in front of Rep. Han." She said police had held off on the investigation out of deference to prosecutorial power and urged them to reopen it.
The acting commissioner general acknowledged the criticism. "I do not think this was a routine investigative approach," he said. "I think more investigative effort was needed, and there is much to regret." On calls for an inspection of those who oversaw the investigation at the time, he said he would review follow-up measures after confirming the facts, including through the Ministry of Justice's audit.
Asked by Yoon whether he was willing to reopen the case in full, the acting commissioner general said he believed the investigation had followed the law and proper procedure, but added that he would not rule out a full reinvestigation if new facts came to light. Asked whether police would reinvestigate if the complainants filed again, and pressed repeatedly by Jung, he said police would actively consider it if there were new facts or a new criminal complaint.