Complaint targets Han and prosecutors
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Metropolitan Crime Investigation Team has scheduled the questioning for 10 a.m. Several civic groups, including the Public Welfare Economic Research Institute, lodged the complaint with the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters.
The groups accuse Han and prosecutors suspected of involvement in the earlier investigation of abuse of authority, obstruction of the exercise of rights and dereliction of duty. They contend that police closed the case without adequately examining when the daughter's volunteer work took place, how she received an award or whether she wrote the thesis attributed to her.
The scheduled questioning concerns the alleged cover-up. Police have separately left open the possibility of reopening the underlying credentials investigation if new facts emerge.
From the original allegations to the case's closure
A complaint filed in May 2022 prompted the original inquiry into allegations that Han's daughter had submitted false information about volunteer work, awards and a thesis. Han was justice minister at the time. In December 2023, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit declined to refer the case to prosecutors, finding no grounds for charges.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun detailed the handling of two allegations in an Oct. 12, 2026, report. Police dropped an obstruction-of-business charge because the academic society that received the daughter's paper had not reviewed it. They disposed of an alleged Copyright Act violation involving the production and sale of an e-book based on plagiarized content as "no right to prosecute," because the original author had not filed a complaint.
Civic groups challenged the outcome, prompting a police investigation review committee to convene. The case was ultimately closed in June 2024, The Hankyoreh reported.
Overseas evidence and the scope of questioning
One focus of the cover-up complaint is an unsuccessful effort to obtain evidence abroad. The accusers say prosecutors blocked a November 2022 police request for international judicial cooperation concerning alleged copyright violations.
According to The Hankyoreh's Oct. 16, 2026, report, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office notified police on Dec. 2, 2022, that it would not seek assistance from the United States. That notification came 11 days after the police request. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that police made no further requests to the prosecutors' office for mutual legal assistance.
The extent of the police investigation has also drawn scrutiny. National Police Agency materials provided to Democratic Party Rep. Yoon Kun-young show that investigators sought no search-and-seizure warrants during the roughly 20-month inquiry, The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on Oct. 12.
According to those materials, only one respondent to the complaint was questioned: Han's spouse, foreign-licensed attorney Jin Eun-jeong. She answered questions once, in writing, rather than in person. By contrast, complainants were interviewed face-to-face: An Jin-geol, head of the People's Livelihood Economy Research Institute, four times, and SASEHANG head Kim Han-me twice.
The newspaper said those records contradicted remarks by Woo Jong-soo, then head of the National Office of Investigation. Shortly after the June 2024 decision not to reopen the case, Woo said, "we conducted many witness interviews."
Police leaders face questions at parliamentary audits
At the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee audit on Oct. 12, 2026, Yoon contrasted the inquiry with the 131 searches conducted in the case involving Kim Hye-kyung. He called the investigation into Han's daughter "a biased investigation that went easy on the subject." Rebuilding Korea Party Rep. Jung Choon-saeng cited 90 searches in the investigation involving former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's children, saying police had "stopped short in front of Rep. Han."
Acting National Police Agency Commissioner Kim Jong-chul acknowledged shortcomings at the same audit. He said the handling of the case was not "a routine investigative approach," that "more investigative effort was needed" and that "there is much to regret."
Kim said he would consider follow-up measures after establishing the facts, including through a Ministry of Justice audit. He also said a full-scale reinvestigation remained possible if new facts came to light.
At an Oct. 15 parliamentary audit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Ko Beom-seok maintained that investigators had followed the law and established principles. He nevertheless said he would check again for shortcomings.
