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| Jeon Hyun-heui, head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), delivers her New Year address during a meeting held in Sejong City, Thursday. Courtesy of ACRC |
By Lee Yeon-woo
The head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), who was appointed by the previous Moon Jae-in government, reiterated her intention to hold on to her position.
"Like the cheering chants for our national football team during the Qatar World Cup, the important thing is to have an unbreakable heart. With this in mind, I will fulfill my job as ACRC chairperson during the rest of my tenure," ACRC Chairperson Jeon Hyun-heui said in her New Year address, Thursday.
Since President Yoon Suk-yeol took office last May, Jeon has been under pressure to resign.
It has been a political custom in Korea that heads of state-run institutions resign when a government change occurs to help the new president push through their agenda with like-minded people. But appointees of previous administrations face no legal requirements to step down before the end of their term.
Jeon is one of the two figures who was appointed by Moon but hasn't been replaced yet, along with the head of the Korea Communications Commission. Her tenure will end this June.
Jeon has been embroiled in other controversies over her position.
Since last October, she has been under investigation from the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) on allegations of abuse of power to benefit former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae.
In 2020, Choo was accused of giving preferential treatment to her son during his mandatory military service in 2017. At that time, the ACRC interpreted that there was no conflict of interest, siding with Choo.
However, Jeon and lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have claimed that the BAI under the current government is targeting Jeon to oust her from the post. The results of BAI's investigation are yet to be announced.
"I only wanted to work by keeping my designated term as written in law. I assumed they might not like my action but never thought they would attack me publicly … I don't understand why people are pressuring me and launching an investigation to make me step down," Jeon said in an interview with local newspaper Hankyoreh last September.
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