President Lee Jae-myung on the 23rd approved the appointment of Choi Gil-su (60, 23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) as special inspector. The decision came one day after the National Assembly adopted the confirmation hearing report. The post of special inspector, which had long been vacant since September 2016, has thus been filled again.
Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson at the presidential office, said that day, “The president approved the appointment of candidate Choi, for whom the confirmation hearing report was adopted by agreement of the ruling and opposition parties.” Earlier, the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee adopted at a plenary meeting on the 22nd a hearing report on Choi that recorded both opinions that he was suitable and unsuitable.
Special Inspector Choi is a former prosecutor who graduated from Seoul National University's law school. He has served as head of the Special Investigation Department at the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, head of Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office and chief of the Andong branch of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office.
The special inspector's targets are the president's spouse and relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, and officials at or above the rank of senior secretary in the Presidential Secretariat. Five types of misconduct are covered: △ contracts under another person's name or brokering or mediating them △ private contracts with public enterprises and public-service-related organizations, or brokering or mediating them △ improper solicitations related to personnel matters △ receipt of money, valuables or entertainment △ embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds. The term is three years, and reappointment is not allowed. An inspection begins when information on misconduct is credible and specific, and the results must be reported to the president. Presidential office secretary-level officials, many of whom are from the Gyeonggi-Seongnam network, and those belonging to the National Security Office are not subject to inspection.
The system was created in line with the 2014 presidential campaign pledge of the Park Geun-hye administration. Lawyer Lee Seok-su was appointed the first special inspector in March 2015. Lee clashed with the presidential office during his inspection of Woo Byung-woo, then senior secretary for civil affairs, and stepped down in September 2016. The Moon Jae-in administration did not make an appointment, citing overlap with the role of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, and the Yoon Suk Yeol administration did not either, citing the lack of a candidate recommendation from the National Assembly, which kept the post vacant for a long time.