Acts Under Article 93 of the National Assembly Act
Illegality Not Recognized
The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (HCIC) was confirmed on the 9th to have dismissed the indictment against Han Dong-hoon, the Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, who was accused of publicly disclosing suspect facts during the explanation of the arrest consent bill for Assemblyman Roh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea in the National Assembly in December 2022.
According to the legal community on the day, the HCIC Investigation Division 3 (Chief Prosecutor Park Seok-il) dismissed the case at the end of January in which a civic group had accused Chairman Han of publicly disclosing suspect facts and leaking official secrets. The HCIC is known to have issued a 'not guilty' dismissal.
On December 28, 2022, at the National Assembly plenary session, Han Dong-hoon, then Minister of Justice, explained the motion for consent to arrest No Woong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was subject to an arrest warrant on charges including bribery, solicitation of bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Although the HCIC did not disclose specific reasons for the dismissal, it appears that they judged that Chairman Han's partial disclosure of Assemblyman Roh's suspect facts during the explanation of the arrest consent bill, as the Minister of Justice representing the government in the National Assembly where the arrest warrant was requested, constituted a 'lawful act under the law' and thus lacked illegality.
Article 93 (Deliberation of Agenda) of the National Assembly Act states in the main text, "The plenary session shall deliberate on the agenda after hearing the review report of the chairman who examined the agenda, followed by questioning, debate, and voting." The proviso of the same article states, "However, for agendas that have not undergone committee review, the proposer shall explain the purpose, and for agendas that have undergone committee review, questioning and debate may be both omitted or one of them may be omitted by resolution."
Legal circles generally agree that Chairman Han's remarks at the time, as the proposer of the arrest consent bill submitted by the government, explaining to ruling and opposition lawmakers the reasons for arresting Assemblyman Roh according to the National Assembly Act, mean that even if some suspect facts were disclosed, the illegality is excused.
Chairman Han, while serving as Minister of Justice, explained the arrest consent bill for Assemblyman Roh, who had an arrest warrant requested on charges including bribery, mediation of bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act, at the plenary session of the National Assembly on December 28, 2022.
At that time, in front of lawmakers before the vote, Chairman Han said, "When deciding whether to consent to the arrest of a colleague, I think you will consider the following two things: first, whether the evidence is clear, and second, whether the crime is serious enough to arrest a member of the National Assembly."
Regarding the clarity of the evidence, Chairman Han emphasized, "There is a file that records the scene where Assemblyman Roh received a request and took money." He added, "The voice of Assemblyman Roh saying, 'You gave it last time, why again?' and 'I have been using that well,' as well as the sound of the money envelope rustling, are all recorded."
He continued, "In the past 20 years, I have personally handled many important corruption investigations, but I have never seen a case where the scene of exchanging illicit money was recorded so vividly."
Additionally, he mentioned, "There are text messages from Assemblyman Roh saying, 'I will use it well, thank you, I will repay with empathetic politics,' a phone call recording where Assemblyman Roh says, 'You helped last time, so I did well, are you helping again?', text messages asking for more specific details of the request, Assemblyman Roh's handwritten notes on the request, the office staff's work notebook, and even records of inquiries and responses using the National Assembly's parliamentary system to fulfill the request at public institutions."
On December 28, 2022, at the National Assembly plenary session, No Woong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who had an arrest warrant requested on charges including bribery, mediation bribery, and violation of the Political Funds Act, is making a personal statement.
The arrest consent bill for Assemblyman Roh was rejected with 101 votes in favor, 161 against, and 9 abstentions out of 271 members present. However, afterward, the opposition criticized Chairman Han for publicly disclosing suspect facts, and eventually, the progressive civic group Judicial Justice Citizens' Action (Sasehaeng) filed a complaint against Chairman Han with the HCIC on December 30, 2022. Initially, the HCIC assigned the investigation to Investigation Division 1, but due to prosecutor personnel changes, the final disposition was made by Investigation Division 3.
Before the disposition, the HCIC referred the case to the HCIC Investigation Review Committee. Although some opinions suggested that former Minister Han's remarks were unnecessarily detailed, it is known that the majority of the committee members opined that there was no basis for punishment.
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