Choo Mi-ae Refutes Han Dong-hoon's Claim: "Investigation Approved and Conducted Before Exercising Command Authority"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae has refuted the claim made by Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon (Research Fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute) that her exercise of investigative command authority was a 'political investigation.'

On the 22nd, former Minister Chu wrote on her social media service (SNS) Facebook, "The approval and progress of the investigation took place before the minister's exercise of command authority."

Former Minister Chu stated, "The approval and progress of the investigation into Han Dong-hoon were independently determined by the Prosecutor General's Office Chief Prosecutors' Meeting and the Central District Prosecutors' Office investigation team based on evidence and legal principles, and these occurred before the minister exercised command authority," adding, "I issued the investigative command after the issuance and execution of the search warrant for Han Dong-hoon's mobile phone on July 2 of last year."

She continued, "The content was merely to uphold the promise that the Prosecutor General would voluntarily withdraw from the investigation, not an instruction on how to conduct the investigation," emphasizing, "Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol was instructed not to interfere with the investigation and to guarantee the independence of the investigation team as originally promised."

Former Minister Chu added, "The Prosecutor General continuously interfered and obstructed the investigation of his close associates and attempted to convene the Professional Investigation Advisory Group without reason," and "The minister issued a command to halt the convening of the Professional Investigation Advisory Group and to guarantee the independence of the investigation team."

She also said, "Prosecutor General Yoon convened a meeting of chief prosecutors and resisted for about a week before accepting the minister's command as a formation right," and "Therefore, the progress of the investigation was approved and directed by the Prosecutor General's Office Chief Prosecutors' Meeting under the Prosecutor General's delegation."

She revealed, "The Prosecutor General's obstruction of inspection and investigation, which hindered the golden time for the investigation team to secure evidence and bought time for evidence destruction, was later judged by the disciplinary committee as grounds for severe disciplinary action."

On the 21st, Prosecutor Han appeared as a witness at the trial of Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jung Jin-woong of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, who was indicted on charges of assaulting him during a search and seizure (official assault), and said, "The Channel A investigation was a political investigation, and I suspected that the case was being fabricated with the (prosecutor-media collusion) frame."

Prosecutor Han stated, "Minister Chu Mi-ae was the second in history to exercise investigative command authority, and I was humiliatingly demoted to the Judicial Research and Training Institute without any evidence of crime," adding, "It was hard to believe that the truth would be revealed if I did not exercise my right to defense."

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