Vacancy of CIO chief finally filled in four months

With the official inauguration of Oh Dong-woon as the new chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), the agency has finally filled the vacancy in about four months. Upon taking office, Oh was immediately tasked with recruiting personnel and stabilizing the organization, as well as the backlog of investigations. He is also expected to be judged on his ability to neutrally and unbiasedly handle politically charged investigations, such as the “death of Marine Corporal Chae Su-geun.”

“I will fend off external pressures so that prosecutors at the CIO can work solely in accordance with the law and principles,” Oh said at his inauguration ceremony in Gwacheon Government Complex.

“We need to be a strong and stable organization,” he said, emphasizing that "to be strong is the courage not to be biased." He also added, “I will do my best to establish the CIO as a strong anti-corruption investigative agency that is dispassionate in cracking down on crimes committed by high-ranking officials.”

Oh must first find someone to work as deputy chief. As Oh is a former judge, there are concerns about the lack of investigative power and control of the organization, so it is expected that he will look for someone with proven investigative skills, such as a former prosecutor. When asked by reporters whether he would consider a former prosecutor as deputy chief, Oh said, "I will select someone who can be united and look forward and move forward," adding, "I will try to find someone with such a will, but I will not rush too much."

The internal selection of the CIO to stabilize the organization is also an immediate task. Kim Sun-kyu, who had been acting chief for four months, announced his resignation in early February and submitted his resignation in March. It is likely that his resignation will be accepted once a new deputy chief is appointed.

The shortage of prosecutors at the CIO is also another task for Oh to deal with. The agency has 25 prosecutors. In terms of the prosecution's organization, it is the size of a branch office. The maximum number of prosecutors has never been filled. The investigation team for the death case of Corporal Chae, which is composed of the Investigation Division No. 4, has only six people, including two chief prosecutors and four assistant district attorneys. This is in contrast to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Anti-corruption Investigation Division No. 1 to 3 handling corruption cases, such as allegations of development corruption in Daejang-dong, which has as many as 20 assistant district attorneys.

A bill to increase the number of prosecutors at the CIO was proposed in the 21st National Assembly, but it was not properly discussed because it was linked to the Act on the Increase of Judges and Prosecutors.

The direction of handling the cases involving high-ranking officials of the government, which have been accumulated in the CIO, is a matter of utmost interest. As Oh was appointed by the recommendation of the ruling party, there are doubts about his neutrality in investigations.

Right now, the death case of Corporal Chae is the key issue. It involves not only Marine Corps and Ministry of National Defense officials, but also many high-ranking members of the government, including President Yoon Suk-yeol and Lee Si-won, the former presidential office’s civil service discipline secretary. The investigations into the alleged "targeted audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection" against former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chairman Jeon Hyun-hee and the suspicion of "accusation stock" involving prosecutor Son Joon-sung and incumbent prosecutors are also cases of interest by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit.

Other cases of interest that the CIO is in charge of include the investigations into the alleged "targeted audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection" against former Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chairman Jeon Hyun-hee.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.