Joo Ho-young: "Accepted Two Vice-Ministerial Candidates from Moon Administration for CIO Chief, but Talks Fell Through"

[Asia Economy, Reporter Kim Hyemin] On December 8, Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, stated during negotiations with his Democratic Party counterpart over the nomination of the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), "There are two legal professionals who were ultimately promoted to vice-ministerial positions under the Moon Jae-in administration, and I said we could accept those individuals." He added, "However, I got the impression that the ruling party, due to a 'Yoon Seok-youl trauma,' is unwilling to appoint anyone who is not completely on their side."

Joo made these remarks during an appearance on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that morning, explaining the reasons why the negotiations between the floor leaders of the two parties broke down. He further stated, "One candidate declined because he and his family did not agree, and for the other, there has been no response from the Democratic Party as to why they are not accepting him."

Kim Tae-nyeon, the Democratic Party floor leader, and Joo had met the previous day under the mediation of National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok and agreed that "the floor leaders of both parties would engage in intensive discussions regarding the nomination of the CIO head," leaving room for further negotiations. However, when the Democratic Party attempted to unilaterally pass the CIO Act in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's subcommittee, the People Power Party strongly opposed and began an overnight sit-in at the National Assembly.

Joo criticized, "The CIO Act was unilaterally passed last year by the Democratic Party and the Justice Party, with two opposition-recommended members, and they repeatedly emphasized that anyone opposed by the opposition could not become the CIO head. But they have never actually implemented this, and now they want to appoint someone who fits their preferences and will never betray them like Yoon Seok-youl did."

He went on to point out, "Even the Justice Party, which passed the law alongside them at the time, is now saying that changing the CIO Act without ever having implemented it will only make it a laughingstock."

Regarding the ruling party's push to pass the law, Joo stated, "This is not legislation, but rather a hijacking of the CIO Act using formal authority. The public will see that they are recklessly pushing through a flawed and inconsistent law to cover up their own faults and corruption. If that happens, the CIO cannot function properly, and it will only hasten the downfall of the administration itself."

He continued, "We must inform the public as much as possible about why this law is unjust and how it constitutes tyranny. Whether through a filibuster or by attending the full session of the Judiciary Committee, I believe the way forward is to communicate these points one by one. We will oppose and fight within every legal boundary permitted by law." Regarding extreme protest measures such as shaving his head or hunger strikes, he said, "We are not considering those options," and emphasized, "If this administration had not suppressed rallies under the pretext of COVID-19, there would already be overwhelming calls for the administration's resignation in Gwanghwamun."

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