Since the crime of law distortion was added to and took effect in the Criminal Act in March, related complaints filed with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials have surpassed 30. The CIO said the current staffing level is sufficient to handle the cases.
A CIO official said at a regular briefing on the 21st that a total of 33 complaints alleging the crime of law distortion had been received as of the previous day. Of these, seven cases were filed solely for the crime of law distortion without other charges such as abuse of authority, the official said.
Article 123-2 of the Criminal Act stipulates that if criminal judges, prosecutors, or police distort the law with the intent to give someone an illegal or unjust benefit or to harm someone's rights and interests, they are subject to imprisonment for up to 10 years and disqualification for up to 10 years.
However, there is ongoing debate over whether this crime falls under the CIO's direct investigative authority. The CIO's position is that it can examine the crime of law distortion as a related offense to abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights.
Currently before the CIO are complaints related to Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, who led the Supreme Court's remand in the case of President Lee Jae-myung's violation of the Public Official Election Act with a guilty finding, and to Prosecutor Park Sang-yong, tied to allegations of coerced testimony in the SSANGBANGWOOL payments to North Korea case.
Regarding alleged biased investigations into the Unification Church by Special Counsel Min Joong-ki, the CIO said it is reviewing notifying former assistant special counsel Park Sang-jin again to appear, after Park failed to comply with a witness summons on the 19th. A CIO official said other methods such as written questioning are possible, but in principle face-to-face questioning is standard.
The crux of the case is an allegation that Special Counsel Min Joong-ki, despite securing statements about the Unification Church's provision of money and valuables to politicians not only from the People Power Party but also from the Democratic Party of Korea in Aug. last year, intentionally left them out of the investigative frame. Park, the former assistant special counsel, handled the Unification Church probe at the time.
Separately, the CIO is said to be reviewing next steps, including the possibility of reapplying for a warrant, in the case of a Jeonju District Court senior judge whose arrest warrant over alleged trial transactions and bribery was rejected on the 24th of last month. Regarding the case of former Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choi Jae-hae's alleged electronic manipulation of an audit report on Jeon Hyun-hee, for which the CIO asked prosecutors to indict in Jan., the CIO said it has not yet been notified of the outcome by the prosecution.