Prosecutors' Office Pushed to the Back, Date for Public Office Transition Committee Meeting Still 'Undecided'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HCIO) remains uncertain about when it can report its work to the Presidential Transition Committee (PTC). Initially ranked behind other ministries, the exact schedule has yet to be confirmed, raising the possibility that the report may fizzle out.

According to the legal community and Yonhap News on the 27th, the HCIO had planned to report to the PTC at 2 p.m. on the 29th, but this was changed to 'undecided.' It is said that the 29th was never a confirmed reporting date.

The PTC places the HCIO lower in priority among political and judicial issues, so it is not proactive in setting a reporting date. The HCIO is expected to hold a meeting in the form of a discussion to listen to opinions rather than formally reporting its work to the PTC, which seems to be why the date has not been hastily finalized. Since it is a discussion rather than a report, it would not be problematic to hold it after the PTC’s official reporting schedule.

For now, the HCIO has taken an opposing stance to President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol’s related campaign promises, creating a conflict. President-elect Yoon pledged to abolish Article 24 of the HCIO Act, which grants the HCIO priority in investigations and requires other investigative agencies to notify the HCIO of cases involving high-ranking officials. He called this provision a 'toxic clause.' On the 18th, the HCIO conveyed its opposition to this pledge to the office of Kim Hyung-dong, a member of the People Power Party. The HCIO argued that existing investigative agencies might arbitrarily downscale or conceal cases, and the HCIO can prevent this.

Meanwhile, since its launch, the HCIO has appointed a regular prosecutor as acting head of Investigation Division 1, which has remained vacant. The HCIO announced the day before that "due to the long-term vacancy of the head of Investigation Division 1, according to the acting regulations, Prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 34, former prosecutor) was appointed as acting head on the 15th."

Since its establishment on January 21 last year, the HCIO only hired two chief prosecutors, Kim Seong-moon (class 29) and Choi Seok-gyu (class 29), for the four available chief prosecutor positions during the first and second recruitment rounds.

The HCIO assigned Chief Prosecutor Kim to Investigation Division 2 and Chief Prosecutor Choi to Investigation Division 3 and concurrently as head of the Public Prosecution Division, conducting investigative activities for nearly a year, but the head position of Division 1 remained vacant.

However, with the implementation of the revised case handling regulations on the 14th, which abolished 'selective filing' and increased the number of assigned cases, Prosecutor Lee was appointed as acting head.

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