The Major Crimes Investigation Agency on the 12th opened an internal inspection into Lim Eun-jung, head of its Gwangju regional office, who has publicly criticized Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to lead the agency.
The agency said it received an official document from Interior and Safety Minister Yoon Ho-jung that day ordering an inspection into Lim's remarks, and immediately instructed its inspector — Heo Sung-hwan, acting inspection officer — to proceed. "The inspection will be carried out strictly and swiftly in accordance with relevant laws, led by the inspection office," the agency said.
Yoon took issue with Lim's public opposition to Kim's appointment. Speaking to reporters earlier that day at the Government Complex Sejong, Yoon said of the inspection order: "The point is to examine whether this constitutes political conduct using one's official position."
"She expressed her views while at the Prosecution Service, but I saw a problem in her continuing to make such statements even after taking a post at the Major Crimes Investigation Agency," he said. "This is a matter already being discussed at length in political circles, so what is the point of a senior official at this agency going out of her way to speak about it?"
Yoon argued in particular that the agency must not repeat past practices of the prosecution service. "Under the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, disciplinary matters were handled within the Ministry of Justice among prosecution seniors and juniors, which made the process extremely lenient," he said. "When there was collective action, you could not discipline everyone, so it was simply tolerated — that was the old practice at the prosecution service."
"Carrying that practice over to the Major Crimes Investigation Agency can no longer be accepted, and this applies equally to all investigators at the agency, not just to Lim," he added.
Lim has publicly criticized Kim over his handling of cases during his time as a prosecutor. In a doorstepping session on her way to work on the 6th of this month, she said: "During his time at the prosecution service, Kim was in the chain of command involved in a number of unsavory incidents." On Facebook, Lim also wrote that "the first head of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency is the agency's first investigator," adding that "someone who should serve as a cautionary example must not be the first."