[Exclusive] Following Choi Kang-wook, Hwang Hee-seok's Resident Registration Number Also Incorrect... Possibility of Prosecution Involvement

Sohn Joon-sung, Deputy Director of Investigation Information Policy at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office,
Documents suspected to have been handed to Kim Woong in April 2020
Numbers only available in the legal professionals' lobby

Korean Legal Professionals Directory (left) and Hwang Hee-seok searched on Naver. Their dates of birth are different. There is a suspicion that the incorrect date of birth listed in the Legal Professionals Directory was used as is in the complaint reportedly delivered by Son Jun-sung, then the Investigation Information Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, to Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, in April last year. (Source=Each site)

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyunju Lee and Jinyoung Jeon] It has been confirmed through our investigation that the complaint filed against Hwang Heeseok, a Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party, also contained an incorrect resident registration number. This complaint is suspected to be the document that Son Junsung, the Investigation Information Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in April 2020, handed over to Kim Woong, a candidate for the Future United Party (now People Power Party) member of the National Assembly. Open Democratic Party leader Choi Kangwook has previously revealed that the complaint against him, which is also under suspicion, contained an incorrect resident registration number as well.

Hwang Hee-seok, Supreme Council Member of the Open Democratic Party (center) [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to our comprehensive investigation on the 8th, the incorrect resident registration numbers for both individuals exist only in the ‘legal professional directory.’ The directory, a kind of personal database, is generally used only by legal professionals. Although anyone can access it, it is not as widely used as portal site people searches. This circumstance increases the likelihood that the complaint was prepared by the prosecution side.

In particular, the incorrect resident registration number of Leader Choi raises further suspicion as it was identically recorded in the complaint filed by the Future United Party in August of the same year. This suggests that the ‘complaint’ suspected to have been handed over by Policy Officer Son to Assemblyman Kim in April may have served as the basis for the actual complaint filed in August. Leader Choi claims this is evidence that the prosecution’s ‘complaint orchestration’ was realized in reality. Comparing the complaint obtained by our outlet against Leader Choi, most of the content is identical, and even the first two digits of the incorrect resident registration number match those in the April complaint. The newly confirmed ‘coincidental repetition of errors’ in Supreme Council member Hwang’s case may further reinforce these circumstances.

Part of the complaint reported by Newsbus (Source=Newsbus)

The first digits of Supreme Council member Hwang’s resident registration number are listed as ‘661216’ in the legal professional directory. December 16, 1966, is his actual birthdate. Hwang stated, "The only place where my actual date of birth is recorded publicly is the legal professional directory." However, outside of the legal professional directory, such as on portal sites, Hwang’s resident registration number is recorded as 1967, which is his official family registry year. Meanwhile, a lawyer affiliated with the Future United Party who prepared the complaint submitted in August stated in an interview that "the draft was received from the party," suggesting that the complaint passed from Policy Officer Son to Assemblyman Kim in April was submitted to the party and was likely used as the basis for the actual complaint.

Around the same time, in July of last year, the Rule of Law Restoration Solidarity (Beopse-ryeon) also filed a complaint against Leader Choi for defamation of a Channel A reporter, but the complaint is currently unavailable due to a non-prosecution disposition. Beopse-ryeon representative Lee Jongbae said in a phone call that "since I often write complaints, I sometimes overwrite previous complaints," and "the complaint related to Leader Choi was overwritten with a new complaint and is now lost," indicating the original is currently unavailable. If the prosecution investigation later reveals that the complaint from Beopse-ryeon also contains Leader Choi’s incorrect resident registration number, strong suspicions may arise that the ‘complaint orchestration’ extended from Policy Officer Son to Assemblyman Kim to the Future United Party and possibly expanded to civic groups at some point.