Channel A Case 'Han Dong-hoon Abuse of Authority' Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong Suspended for 2 Months

Regarding the 'Channel A incident,' Jeong Jin-ung, a prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office (age 56, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 29), who engaged in a physical altercation while searching Han Dong-hoon, the Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party and a former research fellow at the Legal Research and Training Institute, was suspended for two months. Prosecutor Jeong was prosecuted for official violence related to this case but was acquitted.

Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office, who was acquitted of charges of assaulting Han Dong-hoon, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, during a search and seizure operation. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

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On the 29th, the Ministry of Justice announced in the official gazette that Prosecutor Jeong was disciplined with a two-month suspension for "violation of official duties" and "damage to dignity" under the Prosecutor Disciplinary Act.

The Ministry of Justice explained, "During the execution of the search warrant, he violated his official duty to comply with the 'Human Rights Protection Investigation Rules,' and damaged dignity by distributing photos and statements showing him lying in a hospital receiving IV fluids as if he had been injured while restraining obstruction of the search."

Prosecutor Jeong was non-detained indicted on July 29, 2020, on charges of assault causing injury to Minister Han during the seizure of a newly purchased mobile phone's SIM card after the first search by the prosecution (official violence under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes).

At that time, Prosecutor Jeong, along with another prosecutor and four investigators, conducted the search on Minister Han. While reviewing the search warrant, Chairman Han tried to call his lawyer with Prosecutor Jeong's permission to involve the lawyer in the execution of the search warrant. However, Prosecutor Jeong mistakenly thought Chairman Han was attempting to destroy evidence by deleting apps like KakaoTalk or Telegram on his phone while unlocking the phone's password. Prosecutor Jeong lunged at Chairman Han, who was sitting on a sofa, to forcibly take back the phone, causing both to fall to the floor, with the research fellow pinning down Minister Han.

The prosecution, based on Chairman Han's injury diagnosis, judged that Chairman Han suffered injuries such as a ligament sprain in the neck requiring three weeks of treatment and applied charges of official violence under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

The first trial court found Prosecutor Jeong's evidence insufficient to prove that Chairman Han was injured and acquitted him of official violence under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. However, it recognized guilt for official violence under the Criminal Act, which does not require injury as an element, sentencing Prosecutor Jeong to four months in prison with one year of probation and one year of disqualification.

However, the second trial court's judgment differed. Although the second trial court rejected all other claims by Prosecutor Jeong (related to duty, justifiable act, mistaken justifiable act), unlike the first trial court, it found it difficult to recognize intentional or conditional intent for official violence by Prosecutor Jeong and acquitted him. The Supreme Court also upheld the second trial court's ruling.

Separately from the criminal trial results, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office recognized that Prosecutor Jeong violated his official duties and other disciplinary reasons and requested disciplinary action from the Ministry of Justice in May last year.

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