Ahn proposes investigative body for senior officials

By Kim Hyo-jin

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo

People’s Party co-leader Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo said Wednesday the country needs an independent investigative body to deal with corruption cases involving senior government officials.

Noting that corrupt officials are a major cause of deepening social inequality, Ahn vowed to push for effective countermeasures, including the establishment of the anti-corruption body.

“Our foremost task is reducing inequality. To do so, we should end letting a handful of people monopolize power and financial resources,” he said in a speech to the National Assembly. “Collusive links between them should be severed and the creation of an investigative body to crack down on corrupt high-level public employees can be a starting point.”

The remarks are viewed as reflecting public anger about the recent corruption scandal in which a judge-turned-lawyer turned out to have been bribed to take cases and evaded tax while seeking to influence former colleagues to reduce clients’ sentences.

Ahn called on fellow lawmakers to devise a roadmap at the parliamentary level to limit the privileges of the establishment and address social inequality deepened by their abuse of power.

“We should bring back justice in the law and taxation. The People’s Party will put top priority on battling the vested rights of the powerful,” he said.

He also suggested that the Assembly should form a special committee on job creation to adapt to industrial changes in the near future.

“We should prepare for the future where the economically active population sharply decreases and a fourth industrial revolution looms with more automated jobs,” he said.

“A jobs committee can be a platform to discuss how to carry out structural reform in the education, industry and labor sectors. Also, it will help deal with soaring unemployment among young people.”

On the long-drawn-out debate over building a new airport in the southeastern part of the country, Ahn urged President Park Geun-hye to take responsibility for fueling conflict between candidate regions.

“If the government had gone through a transparent procedure and solely relied on an objective feasibility study, the regional clash could have been contained,” he said. “The Assembly should look into the decision-making process so other policies won’t be swayed by political purposes. President Park is also required to express her position on the issue considering it was a pledge in the 2012 presidential election.”

Miryang, a rural town located between Busan and Daegu, and Busan’s Gadeok Island had competed to attract a new airport, intensifying regional conflict. The government, however, scrapped the original plan, choosing instead to push for the expansion of the existing Gimhae International Airport in Busan.