Supreme Council member Park Sun-won of the Democratic Party of Korea disclosed the personal information of the tipster related to allegations that Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won sought a clinical trial for a new drug through favoritism, during a public meeting. The point was that the purity of the tip was in doubt given the relationship between the tipster and a broker surnamed Yang. Han Dong-hoon, an independent lawmaker who led the allegations against nominee Kim, pushed back, saying the disclosure of a public-interest tipster's personal details violated the law.
Park said at the Supreme Council meeting held at the North Chungcheong Provincial Office in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, on Nov. 11, "All manner of improper distortions are running rampant against nominee Kim," adding, "The essence is that the specter of political prosecutors' fabricated indictments is coming back to life."
Park went on, "A person surnamed Cho, whom People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hoon and Han claim is a public-interest tipster, was a co-CEO of a company that signed a management consulting contract with broker Yang in 2021 and ran a university-affiliated subsidiary," adding, "Cho not only demanded a personal relationship from Yang but also flaunted connections with People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong's side."
Park presumed that Cho suffered losses while doing business with Yang. Park also claimed that Cho pressured Yang and Genencell founder Kang Se-chan by threatening to expose alleged lobbying of the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety and tried to extract money. When the pressure on Yang and Kang did not work, Park said Cho bore a grudge and began indiscriminate tipping.
Park said, "Han is staging a frenzied 'verbal bomb show' by weaving together Cho's one-sided claims, materials obtained while serving as Minister of Justice, and materials illegally passed on by prosecutors after leaving the Minister post," adding, "We call on acting Minister of Justice Lee Jin-su. Conduct an inspection, including of the indictment plan whose internal leak has been confirmed, and preemptively block evidence-destruction by insider prosecutors cooperating with Han Dong-hoon."
Han immediately pushed back against Park's disclosure of the tipster's personal details. He specifically said it violated the Public Interest Whistleblower Protection Act, which punishes acts that reveal a public-interest whistleblower's identity with "up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won."
Posting on Facebook the same day, Han said, "Supreme Council member Park effectively disclosed the personal details of the public-interest tipster in the Genencell lobbying case and hurled crude insults. It is appalling," adding, "The confidentiality of a public-interest tipster's identity is thoroughly guaranteed by law, yet the ruling party's top leadership disclosed it. They must bear heavy legal responsibility as well as political responsibility."
He continued, "Why do they have to defend Kim Seung-won oppa in such a bottom-of-the-barrel way? Doesn't it mean Kim Seung-won holds a weakness that would leave the Lee Jae-myung Democratic Party administration at his mercy?" adding, "If there had been no public-interest tipster, stock-manipulation victims would never have known for life why their shares became scraps of paper."