Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who raised suspicions about the so-called 'Cheongdam-dong drinking party' and faced both a criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit demanding 1 billion won in damages from Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, has once again been accused of spreading fake news related to Minister Han.
On the 23rd, the Ministry of Justice stated, "Yesterday, Representative Kim Eui-gyeom said on KBS's 'Joo Jin-woo Live' that 'the judge in charge of the arrest warrant for Representative Lee Jae-myung is a classmate of Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon from Seoul National University Law School, class of 1992, and that the prosecution chose the judge considering this,' but this is clearly false," adding, "The judge mentioned by Minister Han and Representative Kim is not a university classmate, and they do not even know each other."
On October 24 last year, at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's comprehensive audit, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is responding to a question from Kim Eui-gyeom, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by National Assembly Broadcast Screen Capture.
They continued, "Despite repeatedly spreading fake news without any apology or corrective action, Representative Kim is now spreading fake news on a public broadcaster with the intent to unduly influence the trial, and necessary measures will be taken regarding this."
Representative Kim made the related remarks during an interview about the approval of the arrest consent bill for Representative Lee on the previous day’s KBS 'Joo Jin-woo Live.'
When the host, Joo Jin-woo, said, "(Representative Lee) does not pose a flight risk," Kim replied, "However, those who believe the warrant will be issued again argue that first, the prosecution has now chosen the judge in charge of the warrant. Originally, the warrant could have been requested in Suwon or Seoul, but they took the Suwon one and attached it to Seoul."
When the host said, "It was done at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office," Kim responded, "So they considered Suwon to be disadvantageous. And there are three judges in charge of warrants in Seoul, and they rotate once a week in a cycle. They chose the judge in charge of warrants whom they thought would be most favorable to them. And the chosen judge happens to be a classmate of Minister Han Dong-hoon from Seoul National University Law School, class of 1992. Thirdly, the Democratic Party agreed, so the arrest consent bill was approved. These are the arguments of those who believe the warrant could be issued."
In essence, Kim’s statement implies that the prosecution selected the judge they thought was most favorable among the three warrant judges at the Seoul Central District Court, and that judge is a university classmate of Minister Han.
The judge assigned to review Representative Lee’s arrest warrant this time is Yoo Chang-hoon, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court.
Judge Yoo graduated from Daejeon High School in 1992 but is known to have entered Seoul National University’s Department of Public Law in 1993. He passed the 39th Judicial Examination in 1997 and completed the 29th Judicial Training Institute.
On the other hand, Minister Han graduated from Hyundai High School in Seoul and entered Seoul National University Law School in 1992. He passed the 37th Judicial Examination in 1995 and completed the 27th Judicial Training Institute.
Not only did they enter Seoul National University Law School at different times, but their judicial training institute completion years also did not overlap, indicating no connection between them.
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