Civic group files complaint against Han Dong-hoon, wife over daughter's alleged fake credentials

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, a former minister of justice, and his wife have been reported to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency by a civic group over allegations that their daughter fabricated academic credentials.

The civic group Saesaeng — formally known as Citizens' Action for Judicial Justice — held a press conference at the National Assembly on Thursday and announced it was filing a complaint against the couple with the agency on charges including third-party bribery, inducement to destroy evidence, obstruction of business through deception, copyright infringement, forgery and use of private documents, and obstruction of official duties through deception.

"Despite numerous media reports and civic group complaints about the fabricated credentials of lawmaker Han Dong-hoon's daughter, the related investigation has never been properly conducted," the group said. It attributed the lack of progress to what it described as an all-out effort by prosecutors under Yoon Suk Yeol to block any investigation into Han, whom it called the first minister of justice and the crown prince and second-in-command of the Yoon administration.

Allegations about Han's daughter's credentials first surfaced in 2022, during the Yoon administration, when Han was a nominee for justice minister. The allegations centered on claims that his daughter had received used laptops from a company as a sponsorship and donated them to a welfare center to build her resume for university applications — conduct the group characterized as a form of bribery. Separate allegations also emerged that a paper his daughter presented at an overseas academic conference in 2021 had largely plagiarized material written by someone else in 2019.

Civic groups subsequently filed complaints, and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's anti-corruption and public crime investigation unit declined in December 2023 to refer the case against Han to prosecutors.

Saesaeng said Thursday that the couple should face third-party bribery charges because they had arranged the donation of 50 laptops to a welfare center — a third party — on their daughter's behalf, with the purpose of helping her build credentials for applications to prestigious overseas universities. The group also alleged that the couple conspired to have their minor daughter plagiarize a paper and paid a ghostwriter to produce it, while deceiving others into believing she had written it herself.

On Wednesday, the Institute for People's Economy and Seoul's Voice, among other organizations, filed separate complaints with the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency against Han and prosecutors allegedly involved in the earlier investigation, on charges including abuse of authority and dereliction of duty.