Police chief grilled: “Reinvestigation of Han Dong-hoon’s daughter under consideration; hints at deploying police to Olympic Park protests”

[Financial News] The first National Assembly audit of the National Police Agency held by the Public Administration and Security Committee since the abolition of the Prosecutors’ Office took place on the 12th, with the ruling and opposition parties clashing over the fairness and political neutrality of police investigations. The Democratic Party of Korea criticized the inadequate investigation into allegations of “false credentials” involving the daughter of independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, while the People Power Party cited the lengthy questioning of lawmaker Kim Jae-seop as evidence of “biased investigations,” prompting a heated dispute.

Democratic Party lawmakers trained their fire on police, saying they had been reluctant to conduct search-and-seizure operations and in-person interviews during the investigation into lawmaker Han Dong-hoon’s daughter. Rep. Yoon Geon-young raised suspicions of an inadequate investigation, saying, “Over one year and eight months, police summoned the complainant six times, but questioned the person accused only once, in writing. They never even sought a search-and-seizure warrant.” Rep. Park Joo-min and Rep. Jung Chun-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party also criticized police for failing to properly establish whether there was a profit motive and for giving up on renewing requests for international investigative cooperation, calling for an immediate reinvestigation.
In response, Kim Jong-cheol, acting Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, conceded some ground, saying, “I think we should have made a more active effort to uncover the substantive truth,” and “I will not rule out the possibility of a full reinvestigation if new facts emerge.”
The People Power Party, meanwhile, cited the fact that Rep. Kim Jae-seop was questioned by police for 16 hours and 46 minutes, claiming he was subjected to “oppression of the opposition.” Rep. Kang Myeong-gu compared this with delays in investigations into allegations of nomination-related cash donations involving Rep. Kang Sun-woo and matters related to Rep. Kim Byung-gi, criticizing police for conducting “harsh investigations of the opposition and lenient investigations of the ruling party.”
Acting Commissioner General Kim pushed back, saying, “We are proceeding without political considerations. We did not unilaterally force the questioning schedule; it was arranged in consultation with Rep. Kim’s lawyer.”

That day, the People Power Party also questioned the circumstances of a phone call between President Lee Jae-myung, who was at Taereung Golf Course when a commercial building’s ceiling collapsed in Daegu on the 10th, and Acting Commissioner General Kim. Rep. Kang Myeong-gu asked, “Why did he call the acting chief of the National Police Agency rather than the commissioner of the National Fire Agency, who is responsible for rescuing people?” He demanded the exact time of the call and the contents of the briefing. Acting Commissioner General Kim avoided answering, saying, “It is true that we spoke, but I’m hesitant to discuss the specifics.”
Criticism also continued over police investigative capabilities and internal oversight systems. Rep. Yang Bu-nam and others pointed to poor management of investigative statistics, including the omission of supplemental investigation periods when calculating case-processing times. Police pledged to give greater weight to assessing the completeness of investigations by revising performance indicators next year. In response to criticism about limits on cooperation in cybercrime cases involving overseas servers, police expressed their willingness to address the issue by joining the Budapest Convention, an international cybercrime treaty.
In particular, when allegations of misconduct involving the “King of Geoje” at the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency were raised in connection with the issue of so-called “hyangchal”—officers serving in one region for a long time—Acting Commissioner General Kim vowed a thorough investigation, saying, “I think this may be a monster nurtured by the police force itself.”


Calls were also made for a firm response to the protests condemning the National Election Commission and blockading the vote-counting center, which have continued for an extended period at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Democratic Party Rep. Kim Young-jin said that the estimated damage to the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation alone exceeded 2.6 billion won, and argued that the protests should be cleared around the 20th of this month, when an on-site vote count by the special counsel is scheduled.
Acting Commissioner General Kim replied, “The protest is currently taking place as a voluntary, unreported gathering, and attendance has fallen considerably.” He added, “Even an unreported assembly can be ordered to disperse if it poses a clear threat to public peace and safety. Taking the nature of the protests and their legality into account, we will consider deploying police if necessary.” 

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter