Handonghun "Chumiae Abandoned the Basic Principles of Liberal Democracy to Retaliate Against the Investigation of Power Corruption"

Chief Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Prosecutor General Han Dong-hoon recently claimed in an additional statement regarding his Facebook posts and remarks in the National Assembly following Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's directive to consider legislation that would compel the unlocking of mobile phone passwords, stating, "Minister Choo abandoned the fundamental principles of liberal democracy as retaliation against investigations into corruption within her own faction."

On the 13th, Prosecutor Han sent a statement titled "Additional Facebook Posts and National Assembly Remarks by Minister Choo" to reporters, strongly criticizing, "Minister Choo intends to undermine the foundation of this country's constitution, which is for all citizens, in order to continue baseless slanders that have already been proven false."

He questioned, "I want to ask whether the public has ever agreed to the arbitrary abandonment of fundamental principles of liberal democracy?such as the constitutional prohibitions against self-incrimination, due process, and the presumption of innocence?that protect the powerless majority, solely as retaliation against investigations into corruption within her own faction."

Prosecutor Han referred to former Chief Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (currently Deputy Chief Prosecutor at Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office), who led the investigation into the 'Channel A Coercion Attempt' case and stated via the prosecution's internal network that sufficient evidence proving his collusion had been secured. He criticized the prosecution's search and seizure of his mobile phone and Minister Choo's directive to consider legislation to compel unlocking of mobile phone passwords.

He added, "I complied with two unreasonable search and seizure operations, suspected to be for unrelated investigations, following proper procedures (Minister Choo falsely claimed in the National Assembly that I refused the search), and even suffered assault by officials during the process," and continued, "Analyzing seized items is naturally the duty of investigative agencies (Minister Choo and others have publicly stated that they already have substantial evidence long ago, as far as I know)."

Minister Choo stated on her Facebook the previous day, "Just as history progresses through responses to challenges, legal theory must also develop accordingly," adding, "Living in a digital world, we must advance legal theories dealing with digital matters to effectively respond to crimes."

She cited Prosecutor Han's case, saying, "A former prosecutor general suspect did not provide the password to the seized phone, making further investigation difficult with just the shell of the device," emphasizing the necessity of legislation to compel unlocking of mobile phone passwords.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor Han had also strongly criticized in a statement the previous day, saying, "The defendant's right to defense is a constitutional right, and I find it absurd that the Minister of Justice, who should be the bastion of the constitution and human rights protection, publicly condemns the exercise of this constitutional right as 'malicious' and talks about legislation to block it," calling it an "anti-constitutional idea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.