Jinwook Kim: "To Prevent Becoming a 'Minbyun Public Prosecutor's Office'... Requesting Opposition Party's Participation in the Personnel Committee"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Kim Jin-wook, the first nominee for the Chief of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (hereinafter referred to as the HCIO), expressed on the 19th that he would consider candidates from the prosecution for the HCIO Deputy Chief appointment.

At the National Assembly confirmation hearing that day, Kim said, "Since the Chief is not from the prosecution, there is an opinion that the Deputy Chief must be from the prosecution," adding, "I think both sides (prosecution and non-prosecution) are possible."

He continued, "I will recommend multiple candidates who have sufficient legal experience and investigative experience that properly recognizes the HCIO's historical mission," and firmly stated, "I have not received any recommendations from the Blue House or the ruling party."

When Rep. Jang Je-won of the People Power Party asked, "Are you willing to firmly exercise the right to reject personnel recommendations for the Deputy Chief, which have political bias controversies?" Kim replied, "You will know by the results."

Kim said, "I will exercise the personnel recommendation rights as stipulated in the HCIO Act, such as the Deputy Chief's recommendation right and the President's appointment right."

Regarding whether he would forcibly proceed with recommending HCIO prosecutors with only five members if the opposition party's committee members' recommendations for the HCIO Personnel Committee are delayed, he avoided a direct answer, saying, "I naturally expect the opposition committee members to cooperate, and if so, there is no reason to proceed forcibly."

The HCIO Personnel Committee consists of seven members: the Chief and Deputy Chief, two members each from the ruling and opposition parties, and one expert appointed by the Chief.

However, when asked if he intends to operate the Personnel Committee by unanimous consent rather than a majority of the total members, he said, "There must be reasons for opposition, so I will try to persuade them."

In response to Rep. Jeon Ju-hye's question about how long it would take to recommend HCIO prosecutors, he said, "It should be a reasonable period of about 1 to 2 weeks, or 2 to 3 weeks," adding, "I will do my best to uphold the spirit of consensus between the ruling and opposition parties."

Kim urged again in response to concerns that prosecutors might be filled with members from the strongly political Minbyun (People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy), saying, "I ask the People Power Party to actively participate and prevent the HCIO from becoming a 'Minbyun HCIO' as you say."

He emphasized that he would not accept current prosecutors as dispatched personnel in response to the question, "If prosecutors from the prosecution come as HCIO prosecutors or investigators, wouldn't there be 'protecting one's own'?"

Kim stressed, "The HCIO does not intend to accept current prosecutors as dispatched personnel, and prosecution-affiliated personnel will not exceed half," adding, "We will ensure that the principle of checks and balances works well."

Regarding the internal conflict that occurred during the Special Prosecutor investigation of the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, he said, "At that time, I did not know the specific circumstances," and added, "I learned this time that prosecutors went to the special prosecutor's office and rummaged through materials."

When asked if he plans to enter politics after his term ends, he answered, "No."

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