The First Birthday Party of the Corruption Investigation Office Alone, Without Guests or Meetings

A Year Ago's Grand Launch Ceremony vs. Controversies Over Legality of Serial Telecom Surveillance
Despite Repeated Backlash, "No Legal Issues"
No Direct Prosecutions Filed
0% Issuance Rate of Arrest and Detention Warrants

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] ‘Their own first birthday party amid strong external winds’

This refers to the 1st anniversary event of the High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Office (Gong-su-cheo) held from 2 p.m. on the 21st at the large conference room of Gwacheon Government Complex. Only 28 people, including Director Kim Jin-wook, Deputy Director Yeo Woon-guk, department heads, and prosecutors, will attend. The event will proceed with Director Kim’s remarks and a commemorative photo session. It will not be open to the media or the public. Initially, the press corps requested that only representatives from some media outlets be allowed to attend and cover the event, but Gong-su-cheo did not comply. Broadcasting and photography were completely prohibited. This contrasts with the grand inauguration ceremony held on January 21 last year, which included a plaque unveiling attended by Yoon Ho-jung, Chairman of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, and Choo Mi-ae, Minister of Justice. This reflects sensitivity to recent controversies. Gong-su-cheo has mostly responded to various controversies by repeatedly stating that "there is no legal problem."

The festive atmosphere has disappeared, and the celebration table is shabby. The biggest issue is the ‘wiretapping’ controversy. Between August and November last year, Gong-su-cheo extensively collected communication records of domestic and foreign journalists, politicians, legal professionals, as well as their supporters, family members, acquaintances, and ordinary citizens. Gong-su-cheo has also been embroiled in debates over the legality of investigations and searches conducted so far. Regarding the ‘accusation inducement’ allegations, Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, and Son Joon-sung, Human Rights Protection Officer at Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office, filed a quasi-appeal with the court to cancel Gong-su-cheo’s search and seizure. They argue that the rights of the accused to participate were not properly guaranteed. The court accepted Kim’s quasi-appeal and canceled the search and seizure, to which Gong-su-cheo responded by filing a re-appeal. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final ruling soon.

The case of the leaked indictment by Seoul High Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon follows a similar pattern. Prosecutors from the former Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team, who became subjects of the investigation, also filed quasi-appeals. They claim that Gong-su-cheo included prosecutors who were not part of the investigation team at the time of the incident as subjects of investigation and obtained search and seizure warrants by providing false information to the court. If the court accepts this, Gong-su-cheo is expected to face even more criticism.

There has not been a single case directly prosecuted. The issuance rate of arrest and detention warrants necessary for compulsory investigation was 0%. Since its launch until the 10th of this month, Gong-su-cheo requested arrest and detention warrants twice each, but all were dismissed by the court. It requested search and verification warrants 43 times, receiving 33 approvals, and requested permission for communication fact confirmation data 37 times, receiving 28 approvals. Investigations into the ‘accusation inducement’ and ‘judge surveillance document creation’ allegations, which had been heavily pursued, have stalled as they could not even continue questioning the key suspects. There are a total of four cases investigating People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl, but all are expected to conclude only after the presidential election.

Director Kim Jin-wook bowed and said to reporters on his way to work in the morning, "We will reorganize the organization and system to meet the expectations of the people." This is the first time in 218 days since the press briefing on June 17 last year that Director Kim has spoken directly to the media.

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