Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Fails Again... Ruling Party Accelerates Amendment of the Public Corruption Investigation Office Act

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] As the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) chief candidate recommendation committee has once again failed to select candidates, there is a growing expectation that the Democratic Party of Korea will accelerate the passage of an amendment to the HOCI Act that removes the opposition party's veto power.

Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, said at the party policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 26th, "Although we have been persuading for more than four months beyond the HOCI launch deadline, the People Power Party has completely rejected it and only showed factional politics and veto-ocracy," adding, "The Democratic Party cannot help but push forward the amendment centered on the Judiciary Committee. We will definitely launch the HOCI."

The recommendation committee held its 4th meeting the day before and attempted to narrow down the candidates but failed to select the final two candidates. It is known that the biggest issue during the meeting was how to arrange the candidates by their backgrounds. Opposition party recommendation members insisted that the final two candidates must be from the prosecution, while the majority of recommendation members proposed a 'prosecution + non-prosecution' combination.

Lee Chan-hee, president of the Korean Bar Association, said at a press meeting immediately after the meeting, "Although the ruling and opposition recommendation members made countless concessions and efforts to reach an agreement, the strong insistence of the opposition recommendation members that two candidates must be from the prosecution prevented the agreement," adding, "There was some agreement on the (prosecution candidate) combination, but ultimately it did not gain majority approval." He said, "Since two opposition recommendation members did not give final consent, I thought the meeting was meaningless and stopped it," and "We voted again, but concluded that continuing was meaningless."

Accordingly, the Democratic Party is expected to speed up the amendment of the HOCI Act to remove the opposition party's 'veto power.' Since the day before, the Democratic Party has been holding the first subcommittee on bill examination alone to discuss the amendment to the HOCI Act. However, no resolution was made, and the meeting was adjourned, likely due to the absence of opposition lawmakers and the simultaneous timing with the recommendation committee meeting, which was a burden. Baek Hye-ryun, chairperson of the first subcommittee on bill examination and a Democratic Party lawmaker, said, "We plan to reopen the subcommittee today. However, since the opposition party has sent a request to convene a plenary session, we will discuss how to proceed."

Whether the Democratic Party can overcome criticism of 'legislative unilateralism' and opposition backlash until the amendment is completed remains a key issue. Lee Heon, an opposition recommendation lawyer, criticized the ruling party's stance, saying, "There were our claims, but since the opposing side did not accept what we said, both sides effectively exercised veto power. It is not a matter of blaming anyone."

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