The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to adopt a confirmation hearing report on Choi Gil-soo, the nominee for special inspector, on the 22nd, about a month after his confirmation hearing was held on Sept. 18. Once the report is adopted and the presidential appointment process is completed, a vacancy in the post that has lasted about a decade is expected to be filled.
The office of Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the Democratic Party of Korea, the ruling party's liaison on the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said in a notice to the press on the 19th that "the liaisons of both parties have agreed to hold a plenary session during the parliamentary audit of the Public Prosecution Office on the 22nd and adopt the confirmation hearing report on nominee Choi, carrying both qualified and unqualified opinions."
The confirmation hearing for Choi was held on Sept. 18, but the appointment process has been delayed as the two parties failed to narrow their differences over adopting the report. The Democratic Party argued that the People Power Party had been uncooperative, while the People Power Party countered that it had agreed to adopt the report on the condition that an unqualified opinion be included, but that the Democratic Party had refused to accept it.
The dispute over the delay continued during the committee's parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Public Prosecution Office and other agencies on the same day. Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party cited the case of Kim Ji-yong, head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, and asked, "The report was adopted immediately with qualified and unqualified opinions attached equally, and he was appointed that very day as if they had been waiting for it. So why is the special inspector not being appointed?"
Seo Young-kyo, chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, responded that the report could not be adopted because People Power Party lawmakers had failed to attend the meetings. Rep. Park Hyung-soo, the People Power Party's liaison, placed the blame on the Democratic Party, saying, "We told them to pass it with an unqualified opinion attached, and we even explained the reasons for attaching that opinion."
President Lee Jae-myung also commented on the delay in the appointment the same day. At a meeting with reporters at the Chunchugwan press center at the Blue House, Lee said, "I kept asking that the appointment be made quickly, but I am told the opposition party is against it." He added, "I thought that if the opposition objects, there is no need to force it through. Still, I have asked whether there is any way it can be done."
The special inspector heads an independent body that investigates misconduct by the president's spouse, relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, and senior officials at the presidential office at the level of senior secretary or above. The post was created in 2014 under the Park Geun-hye administration, but it has remained vacant since Lee Suk-soo, then the special inspector, resigned in 2016, going unfilled through the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk-yeol administrations. If the confirmation report is adopted as scheduled on the 22nd and the presidential appointment follows, a special inspector will resume work after about 10 years.