There was no case in which the prosecution re-investigated the incumbent Justice Minister, who used to be a prosecutor.
On the 20th, the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office dismissed the appeal of the Citizens’ Coalition for Democracy to re-investigate Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon’s attempted coercion in the case of channel A prosecuting collusion. It was judged that there was no reason to change the disposition of non-prosecution by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which was issued on April 6th, saying, “There is no evidence to admit collusion.”
Previously, Min Eon-ryun filed a complaint against Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae and later Minister Han Dong-hoon, who later became Minister Han Dong-hoon, for intimidation in relation to the ‘Channel A Prosecution Collusion Suspicion’ case in 2020. And when the prosecution’s decision to not prosecute came out two years after the accusation, on April 20th, the Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal. Min Eon-ryun argued in the statement of reasons for the appeal, “It is judged that the prosecutor’s decision not to prosecute is illegal due to a misunderstanding of the facts due to intentional lack of investigation and a misunderstanding of the law regarding whether an accomplice is established.”
Min Eon-ryeon said, “If you look at the conversation between Lee Dong-jae and Baek Seung-woo on March 10, 2020 (Channel A reporter) and the transcript of the conversation between Lee Dong-jae and the suspect (Han Dong-hoon) on March 22, 2020, the suspect continuously told Lee Dong-jae, ‘Let’s meet anyway’. , ‘I will give you my hand’, etc., actively encouraging the crime, and actively expressing the opinion that ‘it would be better to connect the criminal than yourself’. Visible circumstances are found,” he said.
However, the Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office determined that the existing disposition of non-prosecution was reasonable.
In response, Shin Mi-hee, secretary general of Min Un-ryun, said, “It is difficult to understand whether the reason for the appeal was properly reviewed in less than two weeks, excluding holidays, after the submission of the reason for appeal on May 31. The dismissal of the appeal, which was decided with a high speed, consistent with a passive attitude to the point that it was questionable whether there was even a passive attitude and was in a hurry to ‘wrap the rites’, can only be seen as an indulgence for the suspect Han Dong-hoon, who became the Minister of Justice.”
Secretary-General Shin Mi-hee said, “A re-appeal is unavoidable even to inform the need to find out the reality of the unprecedented ‘suspected collusion of prosecutors’ and the unfairness of the prosecution’s successive acquittals.” After examining the prosecution’s reasons for dismissing the appeal, Min Eon-ryun plans to make a final decision on whether to appeal again. Meanwhile, Minister Han Dong-hoon, right after the non-prosecution disposition in April, insisted that “the truth should be revealed and accountable for false incitement and false accusations made by fishermen such as Mineon-ryun.”
