President Lee Jae-myung on the 23rd approved the appointment of Choi Gil-soo as special inspector general, reviving a post that had been vacant for 10 years since the Park Geun-hye administration. The special inspector general is an independent body that investigates misconduct by the president's spouse, relatives within the fourth degree of kinship and officials at or above the rank of senior secretary in the presidential secretariat.
Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, said in a notice to the media that the president approved the appointment of Choi, whose parliamentary confirmation report was adopted by bipartisan agreement. The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee adopted the report at a plenary session a day earlier, after wrapping up its main questioning in the parliamentary audit of the Public Prosecution Office. Committee Chairwoman Seo Young-kyo asked whether there were any objections to the adoption and declared it passed when none were raised.
The post was first filled in March 2015, under the Park administration, when Lee Suk-soo, a lawyer and former prosecutor, was named the inaugural special inspector general. He resigned in September 2016 after a bitter conflict with the presidential office over his investigation into Woo Byung-woo, then senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. No successor was appointed through the Moon Jae-in administration or the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
With the post filled for the first time in a decade, the special inspector general's office is expected to move ahead with staffing. Under the Special Inspector General Act, the special inspector general may appoint one deputy and up to 10 investigation officers. The office may also request that officials be seconded from related agencies, including the Board of Audit and Inspection, the Public Prosecution Office, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the Korean National Police Agency and the National Tax Service, with the number of seconded staff capped at 20.
Choi, who completed the 23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, previously served as head of the special investigation division at the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, as a prosecutor in the inspection division of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office and as chief prosecutor of the major economic crimes investigation unit at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office.