PCC Director Recommendation Committee Fails to Select Candidate in 4th Meeting... "No Next Meeting"

Opposition-Recommended Committee Member Strongly Insists "Final Candidates Must Be from Prosecutors"... Ultimately Not Accepted
Ruling Party Likely to Accelerate Amendment of Public Corruption Investigation Office Act to Remove Veto Power

Cho Jae-yeon, chairman of the recommendation committee for the candidate for the head of the Corruption Investigation Office, is presiding over the meeting of the candidate recommendation committee held at the National Assembly on the 25th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) Chief Candidate Recommendation Committee failed to select the final two candidates at its 4th meeting held on the 25th.

Lee Chan-hee, President of the Korean Bar Association, met with reporters immediately after the recommendation committee meeting in the afternoon and stated, "Two recommendation committee members from the opposition party did not give final consent, so I thought the meeting was meaningless and stopped it," adding, "We voted again, but ultimately concluded that continuing was pointless."

He added, "Many committee members did not agree that continuing the recommendation committee meetings would lead to a conclusion, so we decided not to hold the next meeting and to end it."

It is known that the biggest issue in this meeting was how to form the combination of candidates based on their backgrounds. While the opposition party’s recommendation members insisted that the two final candidates must be from the prosecution, the majority of recommendation members proposed a 'prosecution + non-prosecution' combination.

Lee said, "Although the ruling and opposition party recommendation members made countless concessions and efforts to reach an agreement, the strong insistence of the opposition party recommendation members that two candidates must be from the prosecution prevented any agreement," adding, "There was some agreement on the (prosecution candidate) combination, but it ultimately did not receive majority consent."

With the HCIA chief candidate selection once again failing today, the Democratic Party is expected to accelerate amendments to the HCIA’s enabling law to remove the opposition party’s 'veto power.' In fact, the Democratic Party held a bill review subcommittee 1 meeting alone today to discuss amendments to the HCIA Act. Baek Hye-ryun, chairperson of the bill review subcommittee 1 from the Democratic Party, said, "Additional discussion on the HCIA Act is necessary, so we did not make a decision," adding, "We plan to hold the subcommittee again tomorrow. However, since the opposition party has sent a request to convene a plenary session, we will discuss how to proceed."