hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in presides over a Blue House meeting of senior aides and secretaries on Dec. 7. (Yonhap News)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in offered an apology to the public for the recent political chaos. He also emphasized the importance of reforming the country’s law enforcement agencies and emphasized the urgency of launching an independent office for investigating corruption by high-ranking officials. Moon appears to have been motivated by growing public fatigue about the drive for prosecutorial reform. That fatigue has been aggravated by a feud between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, which has intensified even as Korea has been pounded by a third wave of COVID-19.

“As president, I feel very sorry that the public has been troubled by this chaotic political situation at a time when we should all be coming together to fight the disease and support the public livelihood,” Moon said while presiding over a meeting of his senior secretaries and aides at the Blue House on Dec. 7.

While Moon remained vague, the general sense among politicians is that his comment about the “chaotic political situation” was a reference to the feud between Choo and Yoon, which has escalated into a legal battle. This is the first time that Moon has apologized or expressed regret for the Choo-Yoon feud, even indirectly.

Moon continued: “The biggest task that remains is reforming the system of law enforcement. My goal has been to ensure that this task is not delayed until the next administration, regardless of the difficulties. We have now reached the final stage when those efforts will bear fruit.” Moon was asking the public for its interest and support so as to launch the office for investigating corruption by high-ranking officials, which has been delayed because of the ruling and opposition parties’ disagreement about how to recommend to be the head of that office.

Moon also reminded his audience about the importance of the current session of the National Assembly in terms of reforming law enforcement agencies. “This session of the National Assembly represents an opportunity to at last complete our institutional reform of law enforcement agencies. This is a historical hour that will open up a new chapter in Korean democracy.”

“I hope that the corruption investigation office will be launched and reform legislation passed so that we can decentralize the power of our law enforcement agencies — including the National Intelligence Service, the prosecution service and the police — according to the principle of checks and balances and transform them into agencies that work for the public,” Moon added.

Despite Moon’s repeated emphasis, a revised version of the Corruption Investigation Office Act was not adopted by the Bill Review Subcommittee at the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Monday. When the ruling Democratic Party attempted to vote on the bill in the subcommittee, the main opposition People Power Party countered by requesting that the bill be referred to a Motion Adjustment Subcommittee. This subcommittee can be convoked at the request of one-third of the members of a standing committee in order to review disputed matters.

Rep. Yun Ho-jung, chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, announced that the Motion Adjustment Subcommittee would be held at 9 am on Tuesday, which meant that the revised bill would not be passed on Monday.

The People Power Party is planning to hold a filibuster if the Democratic Party tries to bring the revised bill to the floor for a vote on Dec. 9. Given the possibility that the revision will not be enacted before the National Assembly’s regular session comes to an end, the Democratic Party has submitted a request for the National Assembly to hold a special session in December.

By Seo Young-ji, Kim Won-chul and Jang Na-rye, staff reporters

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