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| Main opposition People Power Party floor leader Joo Ho-young speaks at a meeting between officials of the party and local government organizations held at the Daejeon City Hall, Monday. Yonhap |
DPK, PPP at odds over members of committee to select unit chief candidates
By Jung Da-min
The months-long conflict between the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) over a new anti-corruption investigative body for high-ranking officials has entered a new phase.
The launch of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials was supposed to occur in mid-July according to the relevant law, but the PPP refused to participate in the necessary procedures to select the head of the investigative body. The opposition party claims the body would have a level of power that is unconstitutional.
But the PPP has finally decided to pick two conservative lawyers as members of a committee to recommend candidates to lead the new office. Under the relevant law, the committee is comprised of seven members: the justice minister, the head of the National Court Administration, the head of the Korean Bar Association, and four additional experts ― two recommended by the ruling party and two by the main opposition party.
The committee will then select two candidates for the chief position, and the President will decide between the two. At least six of the seven members of the committee should consent to the recommendation of the two candidates.
But the DPK criticized the PPP's decision regarding the two lawyers, saying the two will just object to the selection of figures recommended by the other five members of the committee ― who are on the ruling bloc's side ― and thus delay the launch of the organization.
The two lawyers are Lim Jung-hyuk, former deputy prosecutor general of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Heon, former chairman of the board of directors of the Korea Legal Aid Corp.
A veteran prosecutor, Lim had led an investigation into the now-disbanded far-left Unified Progressive Party to give penalties to 462 party members in 2012. In 2018, Lim had been named as a candidate from the main opposition party for a special counsel to look into an opinion-rigging scandal in which one of key aides to President Moon Jae-in had been charged.
Concerns also rose over Lee, as he was accused by bereaved family members of those who died in the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster of disrupting the activities of a special investigation committee in 2015 when he was serving as deputy chairman of the committee.
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| Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Nak-yon speaks at a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap |
DPK Chairman Lee Nak-yon said that the ruling party would take measures if the PPP tries to impede the launch of the anti-corruption body.
"If the opposition party tries to abuse the system in which it is given the right to name two members of the recommendation committee ― a system aimed at appointing an impartial head of the special investigative body ― as a means of impeding the launch of the organization, the people will not tolerate it and the DPK will not stand by," Lee said during a Supreme Council meeting of the DPK, Monday.
PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young said that the party had no choice but to name the two people, as the DPK had threatened it would push ahead with revising the relevant law to deprive the PPP of the right to participate in the formation of the new organization if the PPP keeps delaying the nomination of the committee members.
"The two participants recommended by the PPP will agree on candidates recommended by the ruling bloc if it recommends a neutral and independent candidate who the opposition party and the people can trust," Joo said. "But they will firmly oppose them if the ruling party tries to unilaterally appoint biased and unqualified candidates despite strong protests from the people as they did with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and former Minister Cho Kuk."
