Democratic Party Presses Han Dong-hoon Over Handling of Daughter’s Investigation

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party intensified its pressure on independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon on Saturday, demanding an explanation over claims that an investigation involving his daughter was obstructed while he served as justice minister. Han denied wrongdoing and dismissed the accusations as a politically motivated campaign.

The dispute centers on a 2022 police investigation into allegations that Han’s daughter used questionable academic credentials. Democratic Party officials said police sought international legal assistance from the United States in November that year but that prosecutors rejected the request. The party argued that the circumstances require scrutiny because Han was justice minister at the time.

Senior Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon asked whether prosecutors acted on their own or whether pressure was applied. He called on Han and Song Kyung-ho, a former head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, to explain why the legal-assistance process did not proceed. The party has not presented proof that Han personally intervened.

Floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee said the rejection of the assistance request may have limited the evidence available to police before they decided not to forward the case for prosecution. She asked Han to say whether he filed a conflict-of-interest disclosure or sought to recuse himself from any related process. Lee also called on the Justice Ministry to disclose how the request was handled.

Another party spokesperson, Cho Gye-won, linked the renewed questions to discussions at a recent parliamentary audit and said Han should clarify the extent of any involvement. The allegations have become part of a wider political confrontation between the governing party and Han, a former prosecutor and justice minister who now sits in the National Assembly as an independent.

Han responded on social media that the underlying copyright-related allegation was baseless. He said his daughter had received permission from the foreign copyright holder connected to a mathematics e-book that was sold through Amazon for 99 cents. He argued that there was therefore no substantive offense to conceal and characterized the Democratic Party’s campaign as a coordinated smear.

The latest exchange does not establish that Han directed or influenced the handling of the police request. It does, however, raise questions about how authorities managed a potentially sensitive case involving the family of the sitting justice minister. The political focus is now likely to remain on whether official records can clarify the route of the request, the reasons it was rejected and whether conflict-of-interest safeguards were used.