The 'Money Envelope' Case with Extensive Evidence... Han Dong-hoon's Statements Draw Renewed Attention (Comprehensive)

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon will once again stand in the National Assembly plenary session on the afternoon of the 12th. Minister Han will explain the background of requesting the arrest warrants for independent lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who have been identified as key suspects in the Democratic Party's '2021 Party Convention Money Envelope Incident.' It has been three months since he explained the arrest warrant request for People Power Party lawmaker Ha Young-je at the National Assembly on March 30.

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon Photo by Yonhap News

The political and legal circles are paying close attention to his words once again. Minister Han’s remarks on this day may prick the cushions of some lawmakers sitting in front of him. The 29 lawmakers whose movement records became the subject of verification when the prosecution raided the National Assembly Secretariat on the 5th will also hear Minister Han’s explanation on site. Lawmakers who have not yet surfaced but actually received money envelopes are expected to listen anxiously to Minister Han’s remarks. Lawmakers Yoon Kwan-seok and Lee Sung-man, who were involved in procuring the money envelopes and for whom arrest warrants have been requested, are also expected to feel the same way. After Minister Han’s explanation, the two lawmakers plan to appeal to their fellow lawmakers to reject the arrest warrants during their statement.

Attention is focused on how much of the prosecution’s investigation details and evidence Minister Han will disclose on this day. If Minister Han reveals new information that has not been previously known, it is expected to cause a significant stir. Representative examples include parts of the ‘Lee Jung-geun recording file’ that have not been disclosed externally and key contents of the access records of the 29 lawmakers’ offices.

Since the Ministry of Justice submitted the request for arrest warrants for lawmakers Yoon and Lee to the National Assembly on the 26th of last month, Minister Han has received and reviewed investigation-related materials from the prosecution regarding the money envelope incident. It is reported that many people were involved and the prosecution secured a large amount of evidence, resulting in a substantial volume of reports. There have been many rumors inside and outside the prosecution that “the investigation proceeded smoothly due to the vast amount of evidence.” The recording files from the mobile phone of former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jung-geun, totaling as many as 30,000, were a decisive factor in revealing the whole story from the early stages of the investigation, and former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Rae-gu and others testified about some of the circumstances under which the money envelopes were procured. Based on such evidence, the prosecution identified incumbent lawmakers suspected of receiving money envelopes and raided the National Assembly Secretariat to secure access records of 29 lawmakers’ offices. Because there is so much evidence, the scope of the case details that Minister Han can disclose is also wide. Therefore, it is difficult to easily predict what statements he will make.

Previously, on December 28 last year, before the vote on the arrest warrant request for Democratic Party lawmaker Roh Woong-rae, Minister Han mentioned an on-site recording file of Roh receiving money during his explanation, stating in detail, “(Lawmaker Roh) exchanged specific requests and then received money, saying ‘You gave me some before, why are you giving me more?’ and ‘I’m using what you gave me well,’ and the sound of the money envelopes rustling was also recorded exactly.”

Minister Han’s single word could shake the Democratic Party internally. In political circles, there are also talks that the Democratic Party’s floor leadership has decided to respond separately to the arrest warrant requests for lawmakers Yoon and Lee. They reportedly plan to agree to the arrest warrant request for Yoon, who is more heavily implicated, but not agree to the one for Lee. This is analyzed as a strategy to conclude the case at Yoon’s level and prevent the approval of arrest warrant requests for other lawmakers suspected of receiving money envelopes that the prosecution may request later.

Regarding the money envelope incident, Minister Han is expected to present the main charges and key evidence, emphasize the prosecution’s stance that it is a “serious matter that destroyed democracy,” and urge the approval of the arrest warrant requests. An arrest warrant request for a lawmaker is approved if a majority of the total members are present and a majority of those present vote in favor. Once approved, the Seoul Central District Court immediately schedules a pretrial detention hearing (warrant review) for lawmakers Yoon and Lee and proceeds with the process of reviewing and deciding whether to issue detention warrants.

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