The Democratic Party accelerates amendment to the Corruption Investigation Office Act to remove veto power... Opposition says "Rushing according to a prearranged script"

- Recommendation Committee for the Chief of the Corruption Investigation Office Ends Activities Without Nominating Candidates
- Democratic Party to Review Amendment to Corruption Investigation Office Act Removing Opposition Veto Rights on the 25th
- People Power Party: "Rushing According to a Prearranged Script... Speaker Park Byeong-seok Should Step In"

Baek Hye-ryun, the Democratic Party's Judiciary Committee Secretary, and other Democratic Party Judiciary Committee members are holding a press conference on the 19th at the National Assembly Communication Hall regarding the failure to recommend a candidate for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] After the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (PCC) Chief Candidate Recommendation Committee failed to select a candidate, the Democratic Party of Korea decided to proceed with revising the PCC Act as originally announced. The plan is to remove the opposition party's 'veto power' and then restart the recommendation process. However, strong opposition from the People Power Party and other opposition parties is expected to cause difficulties until the law is passed.

Democratic Party lawmakers belonging to the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 19th, stating, "We will definitely keep our promise to launch the PCC within this year," and "We will hold a bill subcommittee on the 25th to jointly review all bills (amendments to the PCC Act) proposed by both ruling and opposition parties, and will finalize all procedures within the regular session by deriving a reasonable plan."

The recommendation committee held its third meeting at the National Assembly the previous day and discussed 10 preliminary candidates but failed to select the final two candidates. The committee conducted three rounds of voting to determine the final candidates. When no candidate received six or more votes in the first and second rounds, the committee held a re-vote among the four candidates who received the most votes in the second round. However, in the third round, only two candidates received five votes each, resulting in the failure to select the final candidates.

Democratic Party lawmakers said, "Opposition party recommendation committee members, who have experience running under opposition party banners and openly showed partisan colors, voted in favor of those candidates, while exercising veto power even against candidates recommended by the neutral Chief of the Court Administration and the President of the Korean Bar Association," adding, "It appears that until the third round of voting, they exercised veto power against all candidates except those they recommended themselves."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The recommendation committee has decided to suspend its activities for the time being. Although opposition party recommendation members proposed resuming the meetings, the proposal was rejected. Lee Chan-hee, President of the Korean Bar Association, said regarding this, "In fact, the members resolved not to hold any more meetings because continuing would be meaningless."

He added, "We set the rules in the first meeting, gathered related materials in the second meeting, and held the third meeting, but there was no progress. Especially, some members only said 'We have not yet made a decision' without providing specific or reasonable reasons," and continued, "Despite the chairman's request to organize things one by one, meetings that keep repeating as a continuation of politics are no longer meaningful and could even be harmful."

Given the reality of unlimited veto power exercised by opposition party recommendation members, the Democratic Party believes it has sufficient justification to amend the PCC Act. Currently, in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, there are pending proposals such as the Kim Yong-min bill, which changes the composition of the PCC Chief candidate recommendation committee from 'two members each from ruling and opposition parties' to 'four members recommended by the National Assembly,' and the Baek Hye-ryun bill, which allows the Speaker of the National Assembly to recommend the PCC Chief if the negotiation groups fail to recommend candidates.

If the bill review is completed on the 25th as announced by the Democratic Party, the amendment is likely to pass in the plenary session on the 2nd of next month. Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, also expressed his determination to push forward with the amendment, saying, "Waiting longer does not seem to improve the opposition's opposition and delay tactics," and "We cannot avoid making a serious decision to launch the PCC now."

On the 19th, Kim Do-eup, the opposition party secretary of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, along with other People Power Party members of the Judiciary Committee, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Hall regarding the failure to recommend a candidate for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

However, strong resistance from the People Power Party and other opposition parties is expected to cause considerable difficulties until the law is passed. People Power Party lawmakers belonging to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee also held a press conference on the same day, criticizing, "As soon as the recommendation committee declared the end of its activities, the ruling party immediately started working on amending the PCC Act," and "They warned that there was no other way but to amend the law and are recklessly rushing ahead according to a prearranged script."

They added, "Since the PCC Chief holds absolute authority, they must at least have political independence, neutrality, and minimum competence. The recommendation committee must be able to perform its role even now," and "We urge Speaker Park Byeong-seok to mediate."

People Power Party floor leader Joo Ho-young also criticized, saying, "Where is the coercion that we must choose from among the recommended unqualified people?" and "What are they afraid of that they want to appoint someone they like as PCC Chief and take away all cases?"

He continued, "The public's anger is rising to the brim. The public will never tolerate this destruction of the rule of law, destruction of investigative agencies, and the PCC dictatorship."

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