Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said the party will take legal action against independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon if recordings he has been releasing about justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won were obtained illegally.
Speaking at a supreme council meeting held at the North Jeolla Provincial Government office on the 9th, Kim said the Han Dong-hoon matter appears to be headed toward becoming a separate case, apart from the confirmation hearing. "By settling the Han Dong-hoon case, perhaps we will reach the final chapter of Korea's political prosecution," he said.
Kim said the various claims the lawmaker is making could not have arisen without a collaborator inside the prosecution service. "If there is no collaborator and no basis for the claims, then it is the spreading of falsehoods," he said. He added that the party must move to a stage of thoroughly verifying the facts and the truth, and of taking legal action against every person involved in the leak, if any leakers exist.
Kim also pointed to what he called the misdeeds of the political prosecution, symbolized by the leaking of files from prosecutors' secret cabinets and the fabrication of evidence. "This is a moment when we have no choice but to thoroughly examine the suspicions over cabinet leaks and evidence fabrication that the lawmaker has brought about regardless of his own intentions, as he sets out to deliver a coup de grace to the political prosecution," he said.
Kim went further in his criticism, saying that calling Han "the finest sword of Joseon" or "the finest scissors of Joseon" would likely be taken as praise. "Wouldn't it be more accurate to call him the defective sword of Joseon, the defective scissors of Joseon?" he said.
Kim reiterated that the party would handle the nominee's confirmation hearing and the issue surrounding the lawmaker separately. "The confirmation hearing for nominee Kim Seung-won will proceed as a hearing, but separately from that case, we will track the Han Dong-hoon case closely and prepare thoroughly so that legal action can be taken," he said.
