Ha Tae-kyung Wins Another Lawsuit to Disclose Investigation Data on Moon Jun-yong's Special Recruitment Allegation

Ha Tae-kyung, Member of the People Power Party. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, effectively won the appeal in an additional lawsuit filed against the prosecution demanding the disclosure of investigation materials related to allegations of preferential hiring of President Moon Jae-in's son, Jun-yong.

The Seoul High Court Administrative Division 8-2 (Presiding Judges Shin Jong-oh, Kim Je-wook, Lee Wan-hee) ruled on the 29th to partially uphold the plaintiff's claim, just as in the first trial, in the appeal case filed by Ha against the head of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office regarding the refusal to disclose information.

Previously, the first trial court ruled, "Except for the registrant's registered address, home phone, work phone, a copy of the ID card, and parts of some witnesses' mobile phone numbers among the information disclosure refusals made by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office to Representative Ha in November 2019, all are canceled." The second trial agreed with this judgment of the first trial.

In April 2017, ahead of the presidential election, Ha held a press conference claiming to have obtained the final audit report from the Ministry of Labor's Korea Employment Information Service regarding the preferential hiring allegations of Jun-yong, asserting it as evidence of preferential hiring.

At that time, he stated, "Jun-yong had already been accepted to Parsons School in the United States in 2007, a year before he took a leave of absence from the Korea Employment Information Service in February 2008," and added, "He had claimed that he had no choice but to take a leave because he could no longer postpone his enrollment, but this is false."

In response, the Democratic Party of Korea accused Ha of spreading false information with the intent to defeat then-presidential candidate Moon in the 19th presidential election and filed charges against him for violating the Public Official Election Act.

However, the prosecution decided not to indict Ha, citing insufficient evidence, stating, "It is recognized that Jun-yong was notified by Parsons School in the United States on March 9, 2007, to enroll in the fall semester of that year."

Subsequently, Ha requested the prosecution to disclose the judgment materials recorded in the non-prosecution decision but was refused, leading him to file an information disclosure lawsuit. In 2019, the Supreme Court confirmed his victory.

After the victory was confirmed and materials secured, Ha discovered that there were additional witness investigation materials, including statements from the Korea Employment Information Service's hiring officer, which were unknown at the time of the initial information disclosure request. He requested information disclosure again, but the prosecution refused, prompting him to file another lawsuit in January of last year.

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