(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Cho Daun and Ahn Jeong-hoon = On the 11th, the Democratic Party of Korea went on the offensive, once again highlighting the suspicions that independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon's daughter had ghostwritten her while she was a high school student.
In response, one lawmaker countered by recalling the case of Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Deuk-gu, who proposed a bill related to the children of Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, and pointing out, "He is subject to investigation for privatizing public office."
Democratic Party Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-joon sharpened his voice in a written briefing that day, saying, "I ask Han Dong-hoon. Did Benson ghostwrite his daughter's thesis?"
The suspicion of ghostwriting arose over a paper published by a congressman's daughter in an overseas academic journal in 2021 when she was a freshman in high school.
Controversy arose when a writer named Benson, who was recorded as the creator of the paper's digital file, revealed in an interview with the domestic media that he had worked on the paper himself, and it also became an issue for verification when a lawmaker was a candidate for Minister of Justice.
Chief Spokesperson Park said, “Benson is a Kenyan ghostwriter who specializes in writing, and is the key person suspected of ghostwriting Han Dong-hoon’s daughter’s thesis.” He added, “Even after four years, Han Dong-hoon has only made cowardly silence and lame excuses about Benson’s identity.”
At the same time, he asked, “Is the ‘online tutor’ that Han Dong-hoon (candidate for Minister of Justice) confessed to in his own words during his confirmation hearing, someone, Benson?”
He continued, “If the standards you hold on others stop only in front of your own family, that is not fairness, but privilege,” and urged, “The police should immediately reinvestigate the ghostwriting case of Dong-Hoon Han’s daughter’s thesis.”
Over the course of two days over the weekend, the Democratic Party came under fire with seven comments related to allegations against a lawmaker's daughter.
Previously, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Gyun-taek argued at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee audit on the 8th that the police investigating the suspicion of 'false qualifications' of a lawmaker's daughter attempted judicial cooperation with the United States, but the prosecution rejected it.
In response, Rep. Han posted a post on Facebook titled “The Democratic Party’s privatization of public offices for Kim Min-seok’s children,” and fired back by raising suspicions about Rep. Kim’s son’s college admissions.
He mentioned, "Representative Kim Min-seok, the leader of the notebook attack team who privatized public offices of National Assembly members for the sake of their children, Representative Kang Deuk-gu, who proposed the Kim Min-seok Children's Bill, and 16 Democratic Party members who joined in the privatization of public offices by co-sponsoring them."
He then wrote, “His father, Rep. Kim, and members of the Democratic Party actually proposed a bill that was personally created by the son of a high school member of the National Assembly. This is the subject of an investigation.”
The bill pointed out by Representative Han is an amendment to the Basic Education Act proposed by Representative Kang Deuk-gu of the Democratic Party in November 2023 during the term of the 21st National Assembly. Along with Representative Kang, 16 people, including Representative Kim and Floor Leader Byeong-do Han, participated in the proposal.
Lawyer Song Young-hoon, a close associate of Rep. Han, said on Facebook that day, Representative Kim's son, who entered Cornell University in the U.S. in 2024, created a school club aimed at preventing plagiarism in 2022 when he was a second year in high school, and submitted a draft bill to amend the law mandating plagiarism-related education. He then introduced the process by which the bill was actually proposed to the National Assembly and pointed out that it was "a very bad 'dad chance'." One lawmaker shared this article on his Facebook.
This issue also became a verification issue ahead of the personnel hearing in June last year when Representative Kim was a candidate for Prime Minister. The People Power Party raised the issue at the time, saying, 'A Democratic Party lawmaker proposed a bill similar to a bill that the son of the prime ministerial candidate created in a club during his high school days.'
When Rep. Han posted this issue again on Facebook, Rep. Kang, who proposed the bill, countered by saying, “Representative Kim had no idea until I asked him to co-sponsor it.”
He wrote on Facebook, "I liked the plagiarism prevention education proposal proposed by the student club, which was an issue at the time, so I proposed it as a bill. Should I have discarded the good policy proposal submitted by the student after first checking who the student's father was?"
At the same time, he said, "Is it the privatization of public offices that turned the student's proposal into law, or is it the privatization of public offices that brought the political prosecutor's sword to that point?" He pointed at one lawmaker, saying, "If you have time to look into other people's bills, start by looking at your daughter's volunteer activity records."
