Two senior legal officials nominated to lead new high-profile anti-corruption agency

Two senior legal officials were nominated Monday for the inaugural leadership of a powerful investigation agency handling corruption by high-ranking officials.

A seven-member committee entrusted to recommend candidates for the first chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) said it has nominated Lee Kun-ree and Kim Jin-wook for the post.

Kim Jin-wook /Yonhap

The 57-year-old Lee, a former prosecutor, is currently a vice chairman of the state-run Anti-Corruption Civil Rights Commission while the 54-year-old Kim, a former judge, is serving as a senior researcher at the Constitutional Court.

The two were selected with consent from five of the recommendation committee's seven members, while the other two, who are allied with the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), walked out of the meeting in a boycott of the nomination process, the committee said.

The committee added that the two candidates will be formally recommended to President Moon Jae-in for the final choice.

The closure of the protracted nomination process is expected to expedite the launch of the CIO, a core pillar of Moon's presidential campaign pledge to reform so-called powerful investigative institutions, especially the state prosecution service.

By law, the CIO was to go into operation in mid-July, but the PPP had protested its launch and vetoed the committee's nomination process via two committee members on its side.

Led by the ruling Democratic Party, which commands a majority, the National Assembly passed a revised law earlier this month, requiring consent from at least five, not six, of the seven committee members to nominate inaugural CIO chief candidates.

The panel also includes two members from the DP side, the justice minister, the head of the National Court Administration and the head of the Korean Bar Association. (Yonhap)