Ruling Party Focuses on Attacking Han Dong-hoon at Kim Seung-won's Confirmation Hearing
The Democratic Party of Korea devoted all its energy on the 15th to 'attacking Han Dong-hoon' on the day of the confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won held at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee (a meeting where the National Assembly reviews the qualifications and issues of major appointees such as ministers and lawmakers). Park Gun-tak, the Democratic Party's floor leader, said at the party's general meeting of lawmakers that day that there was a "Han Dong-hoon gate," pointing out that everything was connected, from the investigation's progress to the storage and acquisition of materials and political exploitation, and urged the police to conduct a swift and thorough investigation.
Park Sung-jun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, claimed in a written briefing that "the truth of the Han Dong-hoon case is coming to light, after he caused chaos by releasing doctored transcripts (audio records partially excerpted and re-edited from remarks) made to smear nominee Kim, as well as prosecution's indictment plans." He asked, "Not only did they virtually doctor the transcript, but did they go so far as to fabricate an informant out of fear that the source of the real materials would be exposed?"
Rep. Park Ji-won, appearing on CBS Radio, criticized, "Are these words befitting the leader of the ruling party governing the nation?" adding, "He still uses vulgar prosecutorial language." He went on to stress, "We must not tolerate such dirty tricks," and "Rep. Han Dong-hoon must take due responsibility."
Cho Kye-won, the Democratic Party's spokesperson, pointed out in a written briefing, "Rep. Han Dong-hoon, who did not hesitate to say he would 'pull out the teeth' of Lee Jae-myung while claiming he would 'protect the informant'—is he really a decent person?" He added, "First, the suspicions of politically targeted investigations to eliminate opponents and the leaking of investigation materials by the prosecution cabinet must be revealed," and "the final destination of Rep. Han's cabinet politics of killing political rivals is the police interrogation room."
The Rebuilding Korea Party also joined the offensive. Cho Kuk, head of the party's Innovation Policy Research Institute, claimed on social media on the 15th that "the prosecution suspended indictment because it judged that even if it indicted candidate Kim, the verdict would be acquittal," and "when it failed to achieve its goal, it gave internal materials to Han Dong-hoon to make him attack the justice minister nominee." He criticized, "The prosecution's political theater has not changed."
