TRANSITION COMMITTEE MEETS WITH CIO

[Anchor Lead]

he Presidential Transition Committee met with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which had booked President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on the suspicion of instructing an associate to make a false report. They questioned the neutrality of the CIO and discussed the future of CIO chief Kim Jin-wook.

[Pkg]

The Presidential Transition Committee accused the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials of lacking political neutrality and independence. The Committee also said the CIO’s public trust reached almost rock bottom. The Committee began discussing the future of CIO chief Kim Jin-wook, who vowed to complete his term which ends in January 2024.

[Soundbite] Lee Yong-ho(Administrative Secretary, Presidential Transition Committee) : "We said the people want us to publicly state our opinion about CIO head Kim Jin-wook’s future."

The Committee said it was responding to public opinion as if it feared this reference would appear as a way to pressure the independent agency. The Democratic Party called this a start of a prosecutorial republic and criticized them for acting like occupying forces. The meeting’s key agenda was Article 24 of the CIO Act, which the President-elect had called a poisonous clause. The Committee took issue with the investigation priority on high-level officials. There were concerns that a lack of criteria would lead to an arbitrary execution of the right.

[Soundbite] Won Il-hee(Senior Vice Spokesman, Presidential Transition Committee) : "I believe it’s a poisonous clause that defines the CIO’s superior and monopolistic status."

The CIO claimed that selective indictment of cases had caused a debate about the Office’s independence but it had revised pertinent regulations. The CIO also said that it will look deeper into the situation and put in place a control mechanism to deal with communication data inquiries. The President-elect then visited a soup kitchen in Myeongdong Cathedral for some volunteer work. He was there to keep his promise of revisiting the place after the presidential election.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(President-Elect) : "I will arrange my schedule and visit again after I’m inaugurated. This is not a one-time thing."

When Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick asked him to embrace politicians of all sides, Yoon replied by requesting the Archibishop to share his wisdom.