Bae Hyun-jin calls Democratic Party's allegations against Han Dong-hoon's daughter 'political retaliation'

People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's recent allegations surrounding the daughter of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon as political retaliation.

Speaking on CBS Radio's "Park Seong-tae's News Show" on Wednesday, Bae said, "Lawmaker Han is currently conducting a national audit in the United States as a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee — should we not call this political retaliation, taking advantage of his absence from the country?"

She went on to ask whether Han had not delivered pointed criticism of Justice Minister Kim Seung-won and the demilitarized zone landmine incident. "This is a forced attempt to dig up a case that was already closed and tarnish Lawmaker Han's moral standing," she said.

Earlier, Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Geon-yeong said at the National Assembly's Interior and Safety Committee audit of the Korean National Police Agency on Monday that police had never sought a search and seizure warrant and had conducted no witness interviews, despite allegations that Han's daughter had ghostwritten academic papers and violated copyright law becoming a social issue.

Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Jeong Chun-saeng also weighed in, saying, "How did police investigate former Minister Cho Kuk's children? They carried out 90 search and seizures. They summoned them for questioning. But for Han's daughter — zero search and seizures, zero summons. Does that make any sense?" Rebuilding Korea Party policy research institute head Cho Kuk also recently criticized the matter on social media.

Bae pushed back, saying the two cases were fundamentally different. "Was there not concrete physical evidence that Professor Chung Kyung-sim had forged a commendation certificate using Photoshop? These were matters exposed to the public not through investigation but through a tip," she said.

She also cited attorney Seo Jeong-uk — a conservative political commentator known as an anti-Han Dong-hoon figure — saying he had recently come forward with Han's daughter's transcripts to argue she was "a natural genius." Borrowing his words, Bae said, "The daughters of Cho Kuk and Han Dong-hoon are different."

Acting Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol said at the national audit on Monday that police could reopen the investigation into allegations that Han's daughter had fabricated her credentials.

Han responded on Facebook, saying, "They are spreading false information about my child, who has nothing to do with this, for the sake of political retaliation," and vowed to "take strong civil and criminal legal action."

A complaint over allegations that Han's daughter had ghostwritten and plagiarized academic papers — part of broader "fake credentials" allegations — was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and public crime investigation unit in May 2022.

After roughly a year and eight months of investigation, police closed the case in December 2023 with a decision not to refer it to prosecutors.