Han Dong-hoon, who investigated the 'Samsung merger,' says "This is not a matter of repaying money"

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is answering questions from the press at the National Assembly on the 21st. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice, emphasized on the 18th while filing a lawsuit to cancel the 'Elliott arbitration award' that "I know the full details of the case more accurately than anyone else."

At a press conference held at the Government Seoul Office that day, Minister Han stated, "I am a person who was practically involved in investigating this case and correcting the wrongdoing," adding, "Therefore, more clearly and confidently, I believe this case is not one where the government should pay money to Elliott."

Minister Han previously uncovered allegations that the Blue House and others exerted undue pressure on the National Pension Service during the 2016-2017 special prosecution team investigating the state affairs manipulation scandal. Former Minister of Health and Welfare Moon Hyung-pyo and former head of the National Pension Fund Management Hong Wan-sun, who were indicted by the special prosecution, were convicted by the Supreme Court.

Coincidentally, the arbitration panel in the Elliott case recognized the Korean government's liability for compensation based on these confirmed judgments, placing Minister Han in a position where he must refute such conclusions through the cancellation lawsuit. Regarding this, Minister Han repeatedly emphasized that the criminal case related to the state affairs manipulation and the arbitration award based on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are different.

He said, "There were some illegalities in the internal motives or processes determining the commercial voting direction of the National Pension Service, which is only one of the minority shareholders," adding, "However, whether this can be evaluated as causing damage to another minority shareholder, Elliott, is a different matter."

He further stated, "The criminal judgment, where those who committed illegal acts were strictly punished, is different in nature from the arbitration award, and both issues can coexist."

He also said, "The misconduct of some public officials cannot be regarded as acts or measures of the government," and added, "It is not what the ISDS system intends that the government must pay money every time a public official commits misconduct."

Minister Han also emphasized the legitimacy of the criminal investigation at the time. He said, "The part where abuse of authority existed in the motive for decision-making was proactively revealed and corrected by the government of the Republic of Korea," adding, "There are not many countries in the world that can correct their mistakes on their own like this. The arbitration panel also somewhat acknowledged this."

He also mentioned, "In a way, I am morally very comfortable. I acted with integrity."

Regarding the issue of litigation costs arising from the cancellation lawsuit, Minister Han said, "I also feel a sinking heart every time I see the (costs)," but added, "However, there are a few costs that should not be spared in life. It is necessary to hire capable lawyers befitting the national dignity."

Concerning claims for subrogation rights (the right of a third party who has paid a debt on behalf of the debtor to demand payment from the original debtor) against affiliates such as Samsung C&T raised by some quarters, he said, "Subrogation rights arise on the premise of accepting the arbitration decision," and added, "It is inappropriate to talk about subrogation rights when we are doing our best to correct the award."

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