Ruling Party Forum Calls for Corruption Investigation Office to Give Up Jurisdiction Over Senior Officials
At a forum held at the National Assembly on the 7th, ruling party lawmakers proposed a reform plan that would strip the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) of its authority to investigate senior officials and have it focus on monitoring and investigating other investigative agencies. The forum, titled "A Complete Overhaul of the CIO's Functions," was hosted by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Ki-pyo and co-hosted by lawmakers Kim Nam-hee, Kim Dong-ah, Kim Han-gyu, and Park Kyuk-taek at the National Assembly Members' Office Building. The forum presented the idea of redefining the CIO as "an agency that investigates investigative agencies," while handing over the investigation of senior officials to the Serious Crime Investigation Office or the police.
Lee Geun-woo, president of the Korean Society of Criminal Procedure Law, said on the day, "Expecting the CIO, with its current size and powers, to investigate and prosecute crimes by the highest-ranking officials is an excessive expectation." He added that investigations of senior officials could simply be handled by the police or the Serious Crime Investigation Office when they uncover leads, or by a special prosecutor.
Opposition to the idea was also strong. Han Sang-hoon, a professor at Yonsei University Law School, remarked, "Narrowing the scope of the CIO's investigative mandate is a deeply regrettable idea." He countered, "The Serious Crime Investigation Office operates under the direction of the Minister of the Interior and Safety. Could it truly investigate the misconduct of the interior minister with rigor?" The professor also described this approach as a "serious regression" in the system for responding to corruption and abuse-of-power crimes.
The CIO itself also voiced opposition. Park Sang-hyun, head of investigative planning at the CIO, argued that now that investigative authority is dispersed across multiple agencies, the need for an independent body to investigate crimes by senior officials and to check the powers of investigative agencies has only grown. He said, "What is needed now is not to strip the agency of its duties, but to improve the system so it can properly carry out the duties it has been given," calling for institutional improvements such as stabilizing personnel and expanding the organization.
