President Lee Jae-myung on the 21st appointed Han Chan-sik, an attorney at Kim & Chang, as the new senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. Cheong Wa Dae said Han is "a figure who will strengthen accountability in the civil service in the second year of governance and complete prosecution reform, including establishing the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office." However, Han led a search and seizure of Cheong Wa Dae while investigating the Moon Jae-in administration's "Environment Ministry blacklist" case during his time at the prosecution, making it unavoidable that he will face backlash from the old guard, including the pro-Jung Chung-rae faction within the Democratic Party.
That day, pro-ruling party online communities such as Ddanzi Ilbo and Clien were flooded with posts criticizing Han's appointment. They read: "(Han) is from the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, the nest of the Yoon Suk-yeol faction," "a pick who received Goh Seong-guk's 'divide-and-rule' directive," "it means unconditionally keeping the supplementary investigation authority and not doing prosecution reform," and "there is nothing to hide; it is simply a declaration of war."
Han, while serving as chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, investigated the "Environment Ministry blacklist" case and, as a result, indicted former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung and former Cheong Wa Dae secretaries Song In-bae and Shin Mi-sook. In the end, in 2019 the entire leadership that directed the blacklist investigation, including Han, resigned from the prosecution. At the time, politics circles said it was a "demotion personnel move."
Some Democratic Party supporters posted on online community boards that "there is no difference between Yoon Suk-yeol, who became prosecutor general saying he would carry out prosecution reform, and Lee Jae-myung, who became president saying he would carry out prosecution reform." Many comments with a similar point of view were posted on threads saying, "It seems to be a declaration to go a completely different way now," and "It is an enormous betrayal that the Lee Jae-myung administration we elected is plotting such a scheme."
Han also faced attacks from within the progressive camp over the fact that he is the son-in-law of the late Choi Byung-ryul, a conservative elder and former leader of the Hannara Party (now the People Power Party). Choi led the unprecedented presidential impeachment motion in 2004 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Although the impeachment motion passed the National Assembly, a "backlash" blew up ahead of the April general election that year over claims it was hobbling state affairs. Choi took responsibility for pushing the impeachment, stepped down as party leader, and retired from politics.
In response, among Democratic Party supporters, criticisms emerged such as, "They brought in the son-in-law of the person who impeached Roh Moo-hyun (as the Cheong Wa Dae senior presidential secretary for civil affairs)," and "We can't stand this any longer."