Aftermath of Roh Woong-rae's Acquittal, Targeting Han Dong-hoon

The Presidential Office explained that the decision to maintain the comprehensive real estate tax (jongbuse) standard of 1.2 billion won for non-resident single homeowners and the burden ceiling of 150% is an area of policy adjustment reflecting diverse opinions from the political sphere and the public, rather than a lack of policy consistency or a retreat from reform.

The Presidential Office added that it was the result of comprehensively considering changes in the housing market and tax revenue conditions. However, the opposition parties and civic groups criticized the decision as a retreat from the government's reform will.

In response to these claims, the Presidential Office emphasized that this decision was a policy choice aimed at promoting housing stability for the public and resolving uncertainties in the real estate market. It reiterated that this demonstrated policy flexibility.

KBS claimed that it is facing management difficulties due to its reception fee of 2,500 won being frozen for 45 years. This was based on the fact that there has been no increase in reception fees since 1981.

However, a fact-check revealed that the total reception fee revenue has steadily increased due to the increase in the number of households. The reception fee revenue, which was 577.9 billion won in 2011, increased by approximately 100 billion won to 679 billion won in 2020.

The court approved Homeplus's rehabilitation plan. The core of the plan is to restructure the business around highly profitable stores and sell some stores to secure funds for debt repayment.

However, livelihood creditors are strongly opposing the repayment period, which can extend up to 10 years, and the conflict continues.

Four former high-ranking officials of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency were indicted on charges of abuse of power for allegedly downplaying the murder case of a high school girl. They are accused of ordering the murder case and a preceding stalking sexual assault case to be investigated separately by different departments.

In particular, former National Investigation Headquarters Director Park Sung-joo is known to have remarked during this process, "Let's keep it quiet. We don't necessarily have to bring it up first." This further fueled suspicions that they tried to downplay the case.

The prosecution believes that they attempted to systematically cover up and obstruct the investigation. This case raises serious questions about the independence and fairness of police investigations.

This indictment is a significant matter that revealed inappropriate involvement of high-ranking police officials, and it remains to be seen whether the full story of the incident will be revealed during the upcoming trial.

US Treasury Secretary Scott remarked that the Strait of Hormuz would become a "useless waterway" in two years. This is related to strategic moves to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz for Middle Eastern oil.

This statement is interpreted as signaling a change in the US energy security strategy, citing ongoing plans to expand ground pipelines in the Middle East.

According to SBS Fact Check, if Representative Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party resigns, party subsidies would be distributed among other political parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea, the People Power Party, and the Rebuilding Korea Party.

This shows that Representative Yong Hye-in's resignation could affect the receipt of subsidies by other political parties. In particular, it was found that the People Power Party is also likely to receive some subsidies.

The pool of candidates for the next CEO of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has been narrowed from an expected three-way race to a two-way contest between Oh Young-sik and Lee Jong-hwan. With a change in the situation of Kim Young-rok, who was also a strong contender, their competition is drawing more attention.

Oh Young-sik is strong in coordinating with the opposition party based on his political stature. Lee Jong-hwan, on the other hand, is evaluated as having strong internal leadership as a former KEPCO engineer.

The Comfort Woman statue installed in Sydney, Australia, is facing removal. The controversy began when the newly appointed president of the Korean Association of Australia recently put the decision to keep or remove the statue on the agenda. This is similar to past conflicts involving comfort woman statues in New Zealand.

Some raise the possibility of Japanese influence and criticize the Korean Association president's qualifications. Within the Korean Association, there is strong opposition to the discussion of removing the statue.

This incident is a clear example of the conflict surrounding historical awareness and identity within the overseas Korean community, and further struggles on this issue are expected within the Korean community.

In connection with lawmaker Roh Woong-rae's acquittal, procedural illegality was found in the prosecution's investigation process. The court ruled that the prosecution did not follow proper procedures in collecting evidence.

In particular, former Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon's mention of a voice recording while explaining the arrest consent motion in the National Assembly has become controversial. This raised questions about the fairness of investigative agencies, along with the legality of evidence collection during a separate investigation.

The prosecution claimed that lawmaker Roh Woong-rae received a total of 60 million won from businessman Park on five occasions and conducted an investigation. These charges were also a key part of the arrest consent motion submitted for Roh.

In particular, former Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon at the time attracted national attention by stating in the National Assembly while explaining the arrest consent motion that "even rustling sounds" from the money envelope were recorded.

The manner in which former Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon explained lawmaker Roh Woong-rae's arrest consent motion became controversial. At the time, Minister Han's explanation went beyond simply describing the charges, mentioning specific details such as "even the rustling sound" from the money envelope being recorded.

Such remarks were criticized for creating a public misunderstanding by giving the impression that the suspect, who had not yet been tried, was a confirmed criminal. This was pointed out as effectively speaking on behalf of the prosecution, in addition to controversies over the Minister of Justice's investigative command.

Following the acquittal, the appropriateness and legal responsibility of these remarks are being raised again.

In the Roh Woong-rae case, the court ruled that the prosecution's procedures for collecting evidence in a separate investigation were illegal. It was revealed that the prosecution did not obtain a separate warrant even after discovering material related to lawmaker Roh Woong-rae during the investigation of Lee Jung-geun.

In particular, during the examination of the mobile phone data of Mr. Park and Mr. Cho, calls and voice recordings related to lawmaker Roh Woong-rae were found, but proper procedures for these were deemed insufficient. With a temporal contradiction found between the time the voluntary submission confirmation was written and the time the data selection was completed, the court expressed doubts about the process of handling 80,000 pieces of data.

This suggests the possibility that the prosecution collected evidence by disregarding due process for investigative convenience. The court's acquittal was based on the illegality of this evidence collection as its core rationale.

This ruling is expected to set strict standards for the prosecution's separate investigations and evidence collection procedures in the future, emphasizing the importance of protecting human rights and adhering to due process by investigative agencies.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has been criticized for essentially lacking external oversight systems, such as parliamentary audits, unlike the prosecution. The speaker pointed out a structural problem where the NIS evades oversight by using secrecy as a shield.

Even if investigations into the NIS are conducted during parliamentary audits, their limitations are clear. Calls are being made for a precedent of ex-post investigations into illegal activities and severe punishment.

I don't know much, but the NIS has always felt like a 'no-touch' agency, similar to the Election Commission, for a long time. So, when they engage in such omnipotent activities, even if investigations into the NIS are conducted during parliamentary audits, there will clearly be limitations.

The current NIS Act was amended during the Moon Jae-in administration, but critical views are being raised about the latest amendment as well. It is pointed out that the legal terms in the amendment are ambiguous and there are many problems with the investigation items.

Some argue that suspicions of civilian surveillance and martial law-related issues under the Yoon Suk-yeol government could resurface, demanding a thorough investigation into them.

A proposal has been made to operate the domestic and international parts of the NIS separately to strengthen its oversight system. It is argued that as an organization becomes larger, power can become concentrated, so it should be segmented to decentralize authority.

Specific methodologies were discussed, suggesting that breaking down the NIS itself would reduce its power, which would then lead to strengthening its oversight function.

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