Assemblyman So Byeong-cheol: "Opposition's Refusal to Recommend Is a Clear Violation of the Law"

Proposal of a Resolution Urging the Launch of the Corruption Investigation Office at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Level

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] So Byeong-cheol, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Suncheon-Gwangyang-Gokseong-Gurye Gap, Judiciary Committee), pointed out at the Judiciary Committee plenary meeting held the day before that the main opposition party People Power Party's refusal to appoint members to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) is a clear illegal act due to omission.

At the plenary meeting of the Judiciary Committee that day, the 「Partial Amendment Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials」 (hereinafter referred to as the CIO Act), which was jointly proposed by Representative Kim Yong-min, was submitted, leading to a heated debate over the establishment of the CIO.

In an alternative debate on the CIO Act, Representative So confirmed with Cho Jae-yeon, Director of the Court Administration Office, Lee Kang-seop, Director of the Legislative Office, and Park Jong-moon, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court, about the illegal status where the law has not been implemented due to the opposition party's refusal to recommend members, despite the CIO Act having passed the National Assembly and two months having passed since the legally stipulated enforcement date.

Representative So asked, "Recently, haven't there been many rulings from the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court regarding illegality due to omission?" and "In the past, active illegality was mentioned, but now isn't it also considered illegal not to do what is prescribed by law?" He received the response from Cho Jae-yeon, Director of the Court Administration Office, that "There are such cases."

Also, citing the example of the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee, he questioned Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, "Is there a case where the recommendation committee itself is boycotted because they don't like a Supreme Court Justice candidate?" Minister Choo replied, "All members attend, discuss sincerely, and reach a conclusion."

Meanwhile, in the morning meeting, Representative So said, "Once a law is passed in the National Assembly, it should be implemented according to the law, and if there are problems, amendments should be proposed accordingly," and suggested, "Before handling amendments in our Judiciary Committee, since the law should have been launched on July 15 as stipulated, but has not been launched for over two months, let's pass a resolution in today's Judiciary Committee to launch the CIO Act according to the legal provisions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.