Following South Korea's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, South Korea's ruling National Power Party has also been rumored to be at odds in recent days.
Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee of the Provisional Governing Body of the People's Power Party, confirmed on January 22 that Yoon Suk-yeol's office asked him to resign, but he refused. Han Dongxun said that he has decided to "serve the people in politics" and will "fulfill his duties" and perform his duties until the end of the National Assembly election.
According to South Korea's ** report, what caused the conflict between Han Dongxun and ** Yoon Suk-yeol was the alleged acceptance of expensive gifts by Yoon Suk-yeol's wife, Kim Jian-hee. Recently, Kim Jianxi received a Dior brand-name bag from a Korean pastor in the United States in September last year, and the latter took a picture of the process with a watch, which was related to **Recently on the Internet**.
Regarding this incident, the South Korean government believes that this is a "trap", and Kim Jianxi is just a victim. However, Han Dong-hoon believes that the matter may raise public concerns and that the ** office should handle it more appropriately, and he stressed that the matter should be handled from the "eyes of the people".
Subsequently, there were also differences of opinion within the National Power Party, with some supporting Kim Keon-hee and others standing with Han Dong-hoon and demanding that Kim Keon-hee apologize for the incident and avoid affecting the parliamentary election. Kim Kyung-yul, a member of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee of the People's Power Party, asked Yoon Suk-yeol or Kim Keon-hee to take a stand on the matter, while Han Dong-hoon said that the People's Power Party allowed free expression, which caused dissatisfaction among the government.
On January 21, the head of the South Korean ** Secretariat met with Han Dongxun and conveyed his request to resign from the post of chairman of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee. After Han Dongxun refused to resign, he and Yoon Suk-yeol appeared together at a fire scene in South Korea on the 23rd to inspect the disaster, and it was believed that the two might "reconcile".
The feud between Han Dongxun and Yoon Suk-yeol aroused **'s attention to the relationship between the two.
The 50-year-old graduated from Seoul National University in law and later received his master's degree in law from Columbia University in the United States. As early as 2006, 33-year-old Han Dongxun entered the South Korean Supreme Prosecutor's Office and participated in the investigation of the case of South Korea's former ** Lee Myung-bak and others.
In 2016, after South Korea's former Park Geun-hye's "cronies interfering in politics" case, Han Dongxun, under the leadership of Yoon Suk-yeol, participated in the investigation of the "cronies interfering in politics" case, Samsung Electronics' Lee Jae-yong case and Lee Myung-bak corruption case, etc., and became Yoon Suk-yeol's right-hand man.
In 2019, Yoon Suk-yeol was promoted to South Korea's prosecutor general by the then ** Moon Jae-in. But since then, Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk-yeol have a conflict, which has evolved into a dispute over the legal inspection in 2020, and Han Dong-hoon, who is regarded as a close confidant of Yoon Suk-yeol, has been transferred.
After Yoon Suk-yeol was elected in 2022, he nominated Han Dong-hoon as Minister of Justice. But the opposition parties believe that Han Dongxun has little seniority. Still, Yoon Suk-yeol appointed Han Dong-hoon as justice minister after Han Dong-hoon's personnel hearing was not approved by the National Assembly.
After Han Dongxun took office, he promoted measures such as lowering the age of criminal responsibility and adding life imprisonment. Meanwhile, South Korean prosecutors continue to investigate the case of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. In April 2023, Han Dongxun's daughter was cheated and academically misconducted, but Han Dongxun insisted that "there is no problem".
In September last year, Lee Jae-myung went on a hunger strike**, and Han Dong-hoon said at the time that the operation of the legal department should not be affected because Lee Jae-myung "self-harmed", and he also reiterated the legitimacy of arresting Lee Jae-myung. After Lee Jae-myung was attacked in January this year, Han Dongxun expressed his hope that the case would be solved quickly.
In December last year, Han Dong-hoon was elected chairman of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee of the People's Power Party, and his main task is to lead the party to the National Assembly elections scheduled for April this year. In the eyes of South Korea, Han Dong-hoon is not only a close confidant of Yoon Suk-yeol, but also a rising star of the National Power Party. A poll in December showed that Lee Jae-myung and Mr. Han Dong-hoon were the most promising candidates for future leadership.
Some analysts have pointed out that the support of the People's Power Party is currently lagging behind the Democratic Party of Korea, and the feud between Han Dong-hoon and Yoon Suk-yeol may further affect the election results of the People's Power Party in the case of the departure of Lee Jun-seok, the former leader of the People's Power Party. However, Han Dongxun's refusal to resign shows that his ambition may no longer be in the present, but to accumulate capital to become the best candidate.