Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) chief Oh Dong-woon, indicted on charges of dereliction of duty for leaving a complaint against a Director General-level prosecutor under the CIO unattended for nearly a year, denied the charges at the first trial and argued that he should be acquitted.
According to legal sources on the 22nd, Oh's attorney stated accordingly at the first pretrial hearing for the dereliction of duty case, held before the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 23 (Presiding Judge Oh Se-yong, Director General judge). A pretrial hearing is a procedure held before a formal trial to hear the positions of the prosecution and the defendant and to set up plans for proof. The defendant is not required to appear. Oh did not attend.
Oh was brought to trial on charges of delaying an investigation by failing for 11 months to refer or notify the Supreme Prosecutors' Office after receiving in Aug. 2024 a complaint accusing former Director General-level prosecutor Song Chang-jin of perjury before the National Assembly.
At the hearing, Oh's attorney argued that, given the CIO's staffing situation at the time, they had to wait for the appointment of a successor Director General-level prosecutor, and that handling the case without the approval of the responsible Director General-level prosecutor would have instead raised an issue of abuse of authority. The attorney emphasized that, because they tried to strictly follow due process to the greatest extent, an acquittal should be handed down.
On the same day, a pretrial hearing was also held for CIO Vice Minister Lee Jae-seung and former Investigation Division 3 Director General-level prosecutor Park Seok-il, who face the same charges as Oh. Pretrial hearings were also held for former Investigation Division 1 Director General-level prosecutor Kim Seon-gyu and former Director General-level prosecutor Song Chang-jin, who were indicted together. The two are accused of obstructing an investigation into alleged external pressure on the probe of a Marine who died in the line of duty while serving as acting Minister and Vice Minister of the CIO in 2024. All of them completely denied the charges.
The court plans to hold one more pretrial hearing at 10 a.m. on Mar. 5, followed by a formal court hearing on Apr. 2.