PPP Warns Corruption Investigation Office Risks Becoming 'Ordered Investigation Agency' After Joining Insurrection Probe Unit

The People Power Party on Saturday criticized the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) for forming a special investigation unit on the insurrection and even designating a co-head, accusing it of "reducing the CIO to the administration's 'ordered investigation agency.'" In a statement, Park Choong-kwon, the PPP's chief spokesperson, said the move "draws away key officials and investigative manpower at a time when the office can hardly spare resources from fighting everyday crimes and major corruption," criticizing the administration for "a year-long obsession with insurrection hysteria amid national governance paralysis and an effort to tame the judiciary."

The insurrection special investigation unit, formed by the police and the CIO to probe cases related to the December 3 martial law declaration, is the fifth investigative body dealing with martial law-related incidents.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, PPP leader Jang Dong-hyuk pointed out that "the police reform President Lee Jae-myung promised has not even begun, and one-third of CIO positions remain vacant." He questioned that if personnel are pulled away to staff the insurrection unit and the special prosecutor investigating Lee's own case, "who will investigate on behalf of the people?"