▲ Chung Seung-yoon, Secretary-General of the Korean People's Rights Commission and Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission
The Korean People's Rights Commission announced today (1st) that it has "started a full investigation today regarding allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of children by the Election Commission."
Chung Seung-yoon, vice chairman and secretary-general of the ACRC, said at a briefing at the Seoul Government Office today, "We will set up a large-scale 'Recruitment Corruption Investigation Team' centered on the ACRC's Integrated Recruitment Irregularity Reporting Center and involving dozens of personnel from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Examination and Protection Bureau."
Vice Chairman Chung said, "We have already coordinated with the Commission in advance, and now that the data has arrived, the investigation has begun in earnest," and emphasized, "As the Vice Chairman of the Government, I will take responsibility and conduct a clear investigation to the end and reveal it to the public."
The ACRC plans to conduct an intensive investigation for a month this month first, and then further investigate any deficiencies.
Vice Chairman Chung pointed out that "the independence of the Election Commission is not an unlimited power, but is allowed within the framework of the Constitution of national sovereignty and separation of powers," and that "the investigation of the Election Commission should not be misconstrued as an infringement of the independence of the Election Commission."
He said, "The Commission shall not refuse or obstruct the investigation of the People's Rights and Interests Commission, which was decided by the people on the grounds of its independence."
Vice Chairman Chung said that the investigation was not conducted jointly with the Commission but was conducted by the ACRC alone.
Roh Tae-ak, chairman of the Central Election Commission, said at a briefing after an internal meeting of the Election Commission yesterday that "we will conduct a full investigation into the kinship of current and former employees in collaboration with external agencies."
Vice Chairman Chung said, "We are conducting an investigation solely in accordance with the fact-finding authority under the National Rights and Interests Violation Act," adding, "I don't know what the Commission meant by 'joint investigation.'"
He added that four high-ranking officials and a retiree who have already been referred to the investigative agency based on its own investigation are also subject to full investigation.
The Auditor-General also announced yesterday that it would conduct an audit of certain matters related to allegations of preferential hiring by the Commission.
In this regard, Vice Chairman Chung explained, "The Auditor's Office is supposed to investigate unfairness and violations, but the ACRC is allowed to look into the entire situation and make recommendations for improving the system by examining the value of administrative profits."
Earlier, Kwon Hyun-hee, chairman of the Korea Commission for Political Affairs, held a separate meeting on 30 June and insisted that both he and the three vice chairmen appointed by the current Yoon Suk-yeol government should participate in the investigation into the preferential recruitment of the commission or avoid all of them to ensure political neutrality.
At today's briefing, Vice Chairman Chung refuted the former chairman's allegations, saying, "What kind of political discrimination is there in investigating the Commission, our committee is an independent body," adding, "On the contrary, I think the former chairman's remarks have led to a misunderstanding."
Vice Chairman Chung said, "There was some confusion because the former chairman held a press conference while the position of the Commission had not yet been announced," and emphasized, "There were reports that the ACRC was going to conduct an investigation that would give immunity to the Commission, but I would like to clarify that there is no such thing."
He said that the ACRC's policy of conducting a full investigation had already been in place since the beginning of last month, when the ACRC received a related report.
He said, "Today's announcement was shared and confirmed by all the former chairman and the ACRC staff."
(Photo=Yonhap News)