Professor Jin Jung-kwon of Dongyang University on the 18th evaluated the Korean government's victory in its lawsuit with U.S. private equity "Lone Star," saying it was "Han Dong-hoon preventing a 400 billion won loss to the national treasury."
Professor Jin said this on his social media (SNS), adding, "They are both justice ministers, but one handed 780 billion won in public interest to swindlers, and the other prevented a 400 billion won loss to the national treasury. The contrast is dramatic."
This appears to refer to remarks about the recent decision by prosecutors to forgo an appeal in the Daejang-dong development scandal, which has made it difficult to recover criminal proceeds.
Professor Jin said, "At the time, the Democratic Party of Korea argued there was no point in appealing because we would obviously lose, and that abandoning the appeal would only increase litigation and interest costs," adding, "I remember the dazzling performance of attorney Song, from the Democratic Party, who shouted to give up."
The attorney Song that Professor Jin mentioned is attorney Song Gi-ho. When a decision came down in 2022 ordering the Korean government to pay $216.5 million to Lone Star plus delayed interest, Han, who was then the Minister of Justice, pushed to seek annulment of the award. On this, attorney Song argued, "The chance that an arbitral award will conclude that the Korean government has no liability for damages is zero."
Attorney Song currently serves as the presidential office's secretary for economic security. Attorney Song also ran in the 2024 general election as a Democratic Party candidate.
Professor Jin said, "Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho, who announced the final victory, looked as if they were chewing dung," adding, "It is a national celebration, but they don't seem very happy."
Professor Jin said, "They neatly left out the name of the person who played the decisive role in the win and vaguely spread the credit around, saying it was thanks to everyone at the Justice Ministry," adding, "It is true that those people worked hard, but weren't they the very ones who needlessly urged everyone at the ministry not to bother and just give up?" He continued, "They were not thinking about the national interest, but were so consumed by partisan interests that they focused only on attacking a political opponent."
Minister Jung announced the previous day that the Korean government won in the ICSID annulment application between Lone Star and the Korean government. With this decision, the government's liability for compensation, amounting to about 400 billion won at the current exchange rate, has been entirely extinguished. In the briefing announcing the victory, Minister Jung said, "After last year's insurrection, with both the president and the justice minister absent, the director general of the International Legal Affairs Bureau of the Justice Ministry and the staff in charge put everything they had into the case."