Democratic Party of Korea and Han Dong-hoon Trade Barbs Day After Day Over Roh Moo-hyun Investigation: "Apologize" vs. "A Fabricated Myth"

[Financial News] A war of words continues between the Democratic Party of Korea and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon over the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's alleged receipt of money and valuables. On the 5th, the Democratic Party continued criticizing Han and demanded that he apologize.
Han also mounted a counterattack through social media, rebutting one by one the claims made by Democratic Party figures who criticized him.


Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party's senior spokesperson, strongly criticized Han in a written briefing that day. Park said, "The pathetic conduct of petty political operators from the ranks of political prosecutors is so disgraceful. Their shameless behavior—insulting their opponents with inflammatory language and then demanding that the victims of those insults prove why they were insulting—is so outrageous that even Joseph Goebbels would weep."
In a separate written briefing, Park also called for an investigation into whether Han had participated in the insurrection. He stressed, "Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection did not end on December 3. Attempts to seize power continued afterward, and it is impossible to dispel the suspicion that Han Dong-hoon was at the center of them. Investigative authorities must immediately investigate whether Han Dong-hoon participated in the insurrection."
Democratic Party spokesperson Cho Gye-won also took issue with Han's remarks. Cho criticized him, saying, "President Roh did not personally receive the watches or money. He said he first heard about them from prosecutors, and naturally, President Roh denied all the allegations. With the legal proceedings halted, Han Dong-hoon is maliciously inflicting an indelible insult on the hearts of the deceased and his family."
Cho continued, "President Roh died because of gaslighting by politically motivated prosecutors, the National Intelligence Service and the media. Lawmaker Han Dong-hoon must bow his head and apologize to the bereaved family and the people. If he wants to lessen his guilt even slightly, he should make a profound apology before President Roh's grave."
Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Kun Young appeared that day on "Kim Eojun's News Factory" on YouTube and linked Han's remarks to issues surrounding the prosecution. Yun argued, "I wondered why Han Dong-hoon would make such an outrageous move on October 2, and I realized that this is the groundwork for reviving the prosecution."
Yun argued, "That is because prosecutorial reform began with President Roh Moo-hyun. So they have started attacking Roh Moo-hyun," calling it "the kind of thing done by cyber wreckers." The term "cyber wreckers" refers to YouTubers who sensationalize other people's incidents and scandals to make money.


Kwak Sang-eon, the son-in-law of former President Roh, also rebutted Han's claims on social media. Han has argued that the Democratic Party of Korea deified Roh as a justification for prosecutorial reform and that Roh or his family received two Piaget watches worth approximately 300 million won, along with billions of won, from Park Yeon-cha, the former chairman of Taekwang Industrial.
Kwak took issue with the fact that Han did not participate in the investigation at the time. He pointed out, "Han himself was not a prosecutor who investigated the case involving President Roh, commonly known as the 'Park Yeon-cha gate' case. After President Roh's death, the case involving him was closed on the grounds that there was no right to prosecute, and no trial took place. I understand that the investigation records were then permanently preserved, meaning that no one could see them."
He continued, "Yet I have no idea what basis Han Dong-hoon has for declaring as 'established fact' and 'fact' the details of a case involving President Roh in which the investigation was not even completed, no trial took place and no verdict was issued, or how he can make such a definitive assertion."
Lawmaker Kim Yong-min and lawmaker Choi Min-hee also criticized Han on Facebook. Kim wrote, "As a prosecution-minded person who emphasizes only fabricated truths, Han Dong-hoon must deeply reflect and win people's hearts first," while Choi posted, "I understand, Han Dong-hoon! I will take that as your confession that you swore allegiance to Yoon Suk Yeol and then became minister of justice."


As criticism from Democratic Party figures continued, Han immediately issued a rebuttal.
After sharing Park Seong-jun's commentary on Facebook, Han wrote, "Talk about martial law to the 'people who hid,' such as President Lee Jae-myung hiding in the woods and Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok hiding at home. It will not work on me, who risked my life to stop martial law."
In response to Cho Gye-won's commentary, Han countered that the target of his criticism was not former President Roh but the Democratic Party's political forces. Han said, "The target of my criticism is clear: you, the people who harshly criticized him during his lifetime, then created and exploited a fabricated myth of victimhood after his death," adding, "In the end, you are the people who instilled that fabricated myth for nearly 20 years, devastated the judicial system and caused enormous suffering to the people."
He continued, "I am talking about you, the Democratic Party's political forces that created and exploited lies. Do not cowardly hide behind Roh Moo-hyun by distorting this into an attack on the sacred figure of Roh Moo-hyun." He added, "Former President Roh himself never said that the prosecution's investigation was fabricated."
In response to Kwak Sang-eon's rebuttal, Han also said, "I am not exposing new information unknown to the public, so put aside that irrelevant distraction—'How do you know when you were not even on the investigation team?'"
Han argued that his remarks were intended to show that the previous investigation had not been fabricated. He said, "Unlike the Democratic Party's political forces, which have gaslighted the public for nearly 20 years, I pointed out the fact that Park Yeon-cha, Roh Moo-hyun's sponsor, paid part of the cost of the New Jersey, United States, home that Kwak Sang-eon and his wife bought for Kwak's studies abroad, in order to say that the investigation into former President Roh was 'not fabricated.' Is that not true? You cannot say it is not, can you?"
He continued, "South Korea has a future only if it overcomes the 'myth that the prosecution's investigation of Roh Moo-hyun was fabricated,' which the Democratic Party's political forces have used to gaslight the public for nearly 20 years for their own personal gain."

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter