People Power Party Slams President Lee's Remark That Giving Up Command Over Corruption Investigation Office Is Grounds for Impeachment
South Korea's conservative opposition, led by the People Power Party (PPP), criticized President Lee Jae-myung on the 22nd after he said that giving up command and supervision over the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) would constitute grounds for impeachment, calling the remarks a 'blatant declaration of investigation command.' In response, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk rebuffed the criticism on Facebook the same day, calling it a "smokescreen," arguing that the authority to command and supervise administrative agencies and the political neutrality of investigative bodies are separate matters. He added that the attendance of an investigative agency chief at Cabinet meetings is all the more a different issue.
Rep. Park Jeong-hoon, a pro-Han faction lawmaker, countered on Facebook: "Does that mean former Presidents Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in should also have been impeached for not allowing the prosecutor general to attend Cabinet meetings?" He criticized that seating the CIO chief, whose political neutrality is paramount, before the president amounts to a declaration that the president will direct investigations.
The offensive widened after President Lee posted on social media the previous day, citing an answer from the generative AI service Gemini, regarding the CIO chief's attendance at Cabinet meetings. PPP Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo pointed out on Facebook, "Do not package a sense of security insensitivity—running state affairs based not on the Constitution and the system but on a prompt window for foreign AI—as communication." He said that using foreign-made AI without prior security procedures could constitute disclosure of official secrets, and demanded that the state documents and policy data entered into the AI be registered as presidential records and made public.
Rep. Na Kyung-won, appearing on SBS Radio, said that when she queried Gemini, it answered that the CIO chief's attendance at Cabinet meetings was inappropriate and constituted grounds for impeachment. In response, Democratic Party Rep. Kim Young-jin told MBC Radio that AI-generated answers are not necessarily correct.
The Democratic Party filed a criminal complaint against PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk with police on defamation charges under the Information and Communications Network Act.
