(EDITORIAL from Korea JoongAng Daily on Oct. 25)

Is the approval delay an obstruction of justice?

The decisions over the fate of prosecutors in the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) are being delayed without clear grounds. The mysterious procrastination in renewing their term shakes the integrity of the extra law enforcement agency. Some prosecutors in the CIO even raise the suspicion about an obstruction of justice.

In August, the CIO requested President Yoon Suk Yeol to endorse the extension on the three-year term of its prosecutors — including investigation planning officer Cha Jeong-hyun, senior prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan and two other junior prosecutors — which expires Sunday. Prosecutors at the CIO can serve three terms consecutively. However, instead of an automatic extension of their term, they must go through deliberations by the personnel affairs committee. If the committee recommends those who pass the test to the president, he renews their term.

There's no time limit on the president's approval of the extension of their term. But since Yoon delayed his approval for more than two months, the four prosecutors must quit their job in just two days. As there's no rule on what to do if their term ends without renewal, the CIO regards such a case as "automatic retirement." Concurrently, three new candidates for CIO prosecutors are also being delayed.

The quota for CIO prosecutors is 25, including the chief prosecutor and the deputy. But only 18 are working now. In the Criminal Investigation Division 4, headed by the senior prosecutor, only Lee and a junior prosecutor are serving. That's why the investigation planning officer must join them to help their investigations into the suspicious death of a Marine last year and the alleged influence peddling by the self-declared "power broker." Such volatile cases pose an enormous burden to the presidential office and the government.

President Yoon appointed Oh Dong-woon — the current chief prosecutor of the CIO — nearly four months after he was recommended by the personnel affairs committee. Lee Jae-seung, the current deputy chief, was appointed after more than two weeks of a delay. President Yoon must not try to neutralize the special law enforcement body no matter how much he dislikes it.

The president repeatedly vetoed two special motions to revisit the suspicious death of the Marine and the deepening mysteries over the first lady. Each time, he insisted on first "watching the results of the ongoing investigations by the CIO" before starting an investigation by a special prosecutor. But Yoon keeps delaying his endorsement of candidates for CIO prosecutors. The presidential office must not forget that such repeated delays only accentuate the need for a special probe into mushrooming allegations against his wife.
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