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Parties agree to include both favorable and unfavorable assessments of special inspector nominee
The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is scheduled to adopt a confirmation hearing report on special inspector nominee Choi Gil-su at a plenary meeting on the 22nd.
The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a plenary meeting on the 22nd to adopt a confirmation hearing report on special inspector nominee Choi Gil-su.
The ruling and opposition parties remained at odds over adopting the report after holding Choi's confirmation hearing on the 18th of last month. On the 19th, they agreed to adopt it with both favorable and unfavorable assessments, ending a standoff that had lasted about a month.
The special inspector's remit includes the president's spouse, relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, and presidentially appointed senior officials at the level of senior presidential secretary or above. Introduced in 2014 to inspect misconduct by these individuals, the system provides for the National Assembly to recommend three candidates, the president to nominate one, and appointment to follow a confirmation hearing.
After the first special inspector, lawyer Lee Seok-su, resigned in September 2016, no successor was appointed under the Moon Jae-in or Yoon Suk Yeol administrations. Choi's appointment would end a vacancy of about 10 years and one month.
The hearing also exposed disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties over who could be inspected and the scope of inspections. Whether Kim Hyun-ji, head of the presidential office's First Private Secretariat, could be inspected was an issue debated at the hearing.
The People Power Party raised allegations that Kim had intervened in personnel matters and argued that Kim should fall within the inspector's remit. Responding to a related question from People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo, Choi said the Special Inspector Act covers officials at senior presidential secretary level or above and that Kim was outside its scope.
The Democratic Party countered that figures from the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and allegations of corruption during that administration could also fall within the inspector's remit. Asked whether senior presidential secretaries from the previous administration could be inspected, Choi said a legal review was needed and was underway.
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Politics ·
President Lee approves Choi Gil-su as special inspector, ending vacancy of over 10 years
President Lee Jae-myung approved the appointment of Choi Gil-su, the nominee for special inspector at the presidential office, on the 23rd. The appointment came about two months after his nomination on August 24 and one day after the National Assembly adopted his confirmation hearing report, ending a vacancy of more than 10 years.
Kang Yu-jung, chief spokesperson for the presidential office, said the president approved Choi's appointment after the ruling and opposition parties agreed to adopt his hearing report. The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee had adopted the report at a plenary meeting the previous day, including both assessments of suitability and unsuitability.
The special inspector examines misconduct by the president's spouse, relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, and officials at senior presidential secretary level or above in the presidential secretariat; the term is three years, with no reappointment allowed. An inspection begins when information about misconduct is credible and specifically identifies the conduct, and reports to the president are required immediately upon the start and conclusion of an inspection. Presidential officials at secretary level below senior secretary and personnel of the National Security Office are excluded from the inspection remit.
The special inspector post was created in 2014, and its first holder, Lee Seok-su, resigned in September 2016 after clashing with the presidential office while inspecting then-Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo. The Moon Jae-in administration subsequently left the post unfilled, citing overlapping functions with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, while the Yoon Suk Yeol administration cited the National Assembly's failure to recommend candidates.
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Judiciary committee adopts hearing report on special inspector nominee Choi Gil-su
The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee adopted the confirmation hearing report on special inspector nominee Choi Gil-su.
The committee held a plenary meeting at the National Assembly on the 22nd after completing the main questioning in the parliamentary audit and voted to adopt the report on nominee Choi. The report included both favorable and unfavorable assessments.
Nominee Choi's confirmation hearing ended on the 18th of the previous month, but opposition resistance delayed adoption of the report for more than a month. At a press corps tea meeting at Chunchugwan on the 19th, President Lee said there had been some thought about whether the appointment was necessary given the opposition's resistance, but that he had nevertheless instructed officials to explore how to make the appointment.
The special inspector post was established in 2014 to investigate misconduct by the president's spouse, relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, and officials at senior secretary level or above in the presidential secretariat. No successor has been appointed since the first special inspector, lawyer Lee Seok-su, resigned in September 2016.
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