Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said Tuesday that the Democratic Party of Korea should "clearly realize what it has done" after hearing the account of Kim Jin-ju (pseudonym), the victim in the so-called Busan spinning-kick assault case, who attended an emergency forum at the National Assembly Members' Office Building titled "The Ban on Supplementary Investigation: The Gates of Hell Have Opened."
Han criticized the passage through a Cabinet meeting of an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure abolishing prosecutors' direct investigative powers, saying Democratic Party politicians had "opened the gates of hell for genuine crime victims by waging revenge marketing on fabricated grievances."
People Power Party lawmakers Seo Beom-su, Park Jeong-hun, Bae Hyun-jin, Kim Hyeong-dong, Woo Jae-jun, Yoo Yong-won, Jin Jong-oh, Ahn Sang-hun, Han Ji-a, Ko Dong-jin and Lee So-hee attended the forum.
Han also addressed the case of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, who had been under prosecutorial investigation, saying it was "a fact" that Roh's family had received millions of dollars in illegal funds and hundreds of millions of won in gifts from businessman Park Yeon-cha.
He added that "a large number of Democratic Party politicians at the time and many pro-Democratic media outlets strongly criticized it as well, and former President Moon Jae-in, who served as Roh's defense attorney, acknowledged a significant portion of it."
Han said that while there were criticisms of how the investigation was conducted, "that does not change the fact that serious illegality existed." He called it "wrong to glorify the case as if no such illegality had ever occurred and to engage in revenge marketing and gaslighting."
Turning to former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, Han asked, "What is so unjust about a case in which a construction businessman's check was found in funds set aside for her sibling's jeonse deposit?" He also said of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok that he "staged a sit-in protest and refused to comply with law enforcement when an arrest warrant was sought over illegal funds he had received — and the Supreme Court confirmed his guilt."
Han further pressed, "Isn't it a fact that Ssangbangul Chairman Kim Sung-tae paid North Korea on behalf of then-Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae Myung for the cost of his visit to the North? That was confirmed by a Supreme Court ruling." He also challenged, "Lawmaker Song Young-gil — did you really not distribute cash envelopes?"
Kim Jin-ju, who spoke out against the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers, said at the forum that "crime victims are truly living in hell" and that "the state should be looking after people who have done nothing wrong." She disclosed that she had hired a lawyer to obtain case records, with the minimum retainer fee being 3 million won ($2,100), and that because she had lost her livelihood, she had been forced to pay in 24 monthly installments.
Kim said other victims had been privately emailing her for help, adding that she "cannot help but feel that the judicial system is in a precarious state." She expressed frustration that "there are no safeguards for victims at this moment," even as officials say the situation will improve once a new investigative agency and prosecution office are established.
joze@heraldcorp.com
