[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The lead prosecutor in charge of investigating the allegations involving Han Dong-hoon, Deputy Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute (Chief Prosecutor), in the 'Channel A case' recently reported that the case would be dismissed due to lack of evidence, but this report was rejected, drawing significant attention to the authenticity of the matter. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office denied these allegations.
According to the legal community and Yonhap News on the 1st, Prosecutor A, who is handling the case of Chief Prosecutor Han at the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Seon-hyeok), reported to Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-soo at the end of last month that the case would be dismissed due to lack of evidence.
After receiving the report, Chief Prosecutor Lee reportedly responded to Prosecutor A by saying, "Let's wait for a week," delaying the disposition and not approving it. Shortly thereafter, on the 31st of last month, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye reviewed the activation of investigative command authority to return the investigative command rights of six cases, including the former Chief Prosecutor Han's case, from which the current Prosecutor General's involvement was excluded, back to Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo.
As a result, some speculated that Minister Park would restore Prosecutor General Kim's investigative command authority and exercise the Minister's investigative command authority to direct the Prosecutor General to prevent the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from dismissing Chief Prosecutor Han's case.
The Minister of Justice can only direct the Prosecutor General regarding specific cases. Therefore, for Minister Park to direct Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo to prevent the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from handling Chief Prosecutor Han's case, it is necessary to restore the Prosecutor General's investigative command authority so that Kim can exercise it.
The attempt to restore the Prosecutor General's investigative command authority was ultimately abandoned. Regarding this, Minister Park emphasized the day before, "It is a suspension of discussions, not that the matter has completely disappeared," indicating that the discussion on restoring the Prosecutor General's command authority is not over.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office also actively denied the allegations. In a statement released that day, they said, "It is true that there were recent discussions at the investigation team level regarding the handling of the case, but it was not formally reported to the Chief Prosecutor, and therefore, there was no rejection of such a report. We are unable to confirm specific details regarding other decision-making processes."
They added, "Since this is a case of great social interest, the Chief Prosecutor instructed the investigation team today to report on the investigation status."
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