Handonghun "The Pinnacle of Corruption is Assemblyman Lee Jaemyung"... Urges Passage of Arrest Motion Amidst Loud Exchanges Between Ruling and Opposition Parties

Handonghun unusually takes long to explain proposal
Does not finish reading prepared script, omits parts
Opposition lawmakers protest, calling it a 'filibuster'

Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice, stated on the 21st during his explanation of the proposal for the arrest consent of Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, that "the pinnacle of large-scale corruption is Assemblyman Lee Jae-myung." The unusually long explanation by Minister Han proceeded amid opposition from both ruling and opposition party members, and eventually concluded with much of the evidence explanation omitted following a request from National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to "keep it brief."

Minister Han explained the necessity of arrest consent for Lee during the plenary session of the National Assembly that day. He said, "The Daejang-dong, Wirye, and today’s Baekhyeon-dong project corruption cases are all major development corruption incidents that occurred consecutively during Assemblyman Lee’s approximately eight years as mayor of Seongnam," adding, "The method of crime is similar in that local government power was abused to provide special favors to his close associates or colluding private contractors, funneling astronomical profits. The behavior of shifting responsibility to lower-level officials and the response methods such as submitting false evidence are also very similar, and the greatest beneficiary of these various acts of judicial obstruction was Assemblyman Lee."

To emphasize the necessity of Lee’s detention, Minister Han said, "While one instance could be coincidental, the criminal charges against Assemblyman Lee involve repeated identical crimes and identical judicial obstruction behaviors," and pointed out, "This case involves multiple related parties organized in the crime, and considering Assemblyman Lee’s political status and the investigation process so far, there is a very high risk of evidence destruction through inducement or pressure on accomplices or witnesses."

He also made remarks mindful of the Democratic Party’s allegations of fabrication regarding the cases for which the prosecution requested warrants. Minister Han stated, "Through court review, from the Daejang-dong and Wirye cases to today’s case, a total of 21 people including accomplices or related persons of Assemblyman Lee have been detained, and even more have been indicted without detention," adding, "It is unfair that only the lower-level officials have been detained, excluding Assemblyman Lee, who is the pinnacle and greatest beneficiary of these crimes. As everyone knows, Assemblyman Lee’s excuse is always that he didn’t know and that these people acted on their own, but there is much evidence to the contrary."

Regarding independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok, whose arrest consent proposal was rejected, Minister Han mentioned his confession in open court to accepting an envelope of money, saying, "Since he himself has confessed, I think there will be no one who still claims that the prosecution’s warrant was fabricated or unjust," and countered, "Assemblyman Lee is making the same claim now about this case, that it is a fabrication by the prosecution."

He referred to the precedent where Lee and the Democratic Party had previously declared they would waive immunity from arrest, emphasizing, "It was not a promise forced upon anyone," and stressed, "Now is the time to keep the promise made to the sovereign people."

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is explaining the arrest motion for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, at the 8th plenary session of the 410th National Assembly (regular session) held at the National Assembly plenary hall on the 21st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Minister Han’s explanation of the proposal that day was interrupted amid loud voices from ruling and opposition party members, and after a commotion, it proceeded for about 30 minutes. Democratic Party members raised their voices in protest as Minister Han’s explanation continued for a long time in the meeting room. They shouted, "Is this a filibuster?", "Go to court and say that," "This is not a courtroom," and "Are you really a minister?" In response to the Democratic Party’s protests disrupting the explanation, People Power Party members countered with, "We need to know to vote," and "This is not disclosure of accused facts."

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo repeatedly stopped the explanation and requested members to listen attentively and Minister Han to summarize his proposal. After consultations with negotiation groups, Speaker Kim demanded Minister Han to finish "within 5 minutes" going forward. Accordingly, Minister Han skipped the 'evidence explanation,' which constituted a significant part of his prepared proposal.