Appointment of a candidate for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office after three months, in defense of the ‘Special Prosecution Act’

President Yoon Seok-yeol nominated lawyer Oh Dong-woon as the candidate for the head of the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office, which had been vacant for more than three months.

This appointment came at a time when suspicions were raised that the presidential secretary was involved in external pressure to investigate the Chae Sang-byeong incident, and the Democratic Party had announced the passage of the Special Prosecutor Chae Sang-byeong Act, and the opposition party had announced a thorough verification.

This is reporter Lee Yong-ju.

◀ Report ▶

Oh Dong-woon, a lawyer and former judge, was appointed as the final candidate for the second head of the Corruption Investigation Office.

It has been 96 days since the first Director Kim Jin-wook retired last January.

[김수경/대통령실 대변인]
″Attorney Oh Dong-woon was nominated as the final candidate for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office. We plan to quickly request a personnel hearing from the National Assembly.″

Candidate Oh was appointed at the Busan District Court in 1998 and served as chief judge at the Ulsan District Court.

The President’s Office said, “We have accumulated trial experience and expertise in various fields for 20 years,” and that “we made a careful decision considering fairness and reliability.”

During the long absence of leadership, which lasted nearly 100 days, the Corruption Investigation Office has been criticized for the slow progress of major investigations, including the suspicion of external pressure in the Chae Sang-byeong case.

On the day of the nomination, Yoo Jae-eun, a legal manager at the Ministry of National Defense, who is a key figure in the suspicion of external pressure on the investigation, was summoned.

In the National Assembly, pressure from the opposition party on the handling of special prosecutor Chae Sang-byeong is growing.

An official from the President’s Office countered, saying, “Both the accusation against former Minister Lee Jong-seop and the proposal of the Special Prosecution Act were made last year,” and “It is unfair to link the nomination of the head of the Corruption Investigation Office with the Special Prosecution Act.”

In addition, he argued, “It would be unfair to criticize him for impeding the investigation and then criticize him for interfering with the investigation once he was nominated.”

The New Reform Party pointed out that it was suspected of attempting to internally crack down on the candidate, and the Democratic Party predicted a thorough verification, saying it was doubtful whether Candidate Oh could lead a fair investigation given his history of defending allegations of election interference by the Park Geun-hye government’s intelligence police.

This is Lee Yong-ju from MBC News.