An "Abolish the Corruption Investigation Office" · Yoon "Try to Fix It, Abolish If It Fails" · Lee "Insufficient but Must Develop Capacity"

Ahn Cheol-soo "Abolishing the Corruption Investigation Office is the Right Move"
Yoon Seok-yeol "Fix It as Much as Possible, Then Abolish If It Still Doesn't Work"
Lee Jae-myung "Even If Insufficient, We Must Develop Capacity and Ensure It Functions Properly"

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon and Lee Myung-hwan] Regarding the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (Gong-su-cheo), Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, emphasized that it "should be abolished," while Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, agreed, saying, "We should try to fix it, and if it doesn’t work, proceed with abolition." On the other hand, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate, opposed this by stating, "Although it is lacking, its capabilities should be enhanced so that it can perform its proper functions."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the second presidential candidate debate hosted by the National Election Commission on the 25th, Ahn said, "In every aspect, the competence of Gong-su-cheo is zero," and added, "Personally, I hold the opinion that Gong-su-cheo should be abolished."

Ahn stated, "Recently, there was wiretapping of politicians and journalists, and with such disappointing investigative abilities, it cannot function properly," expressing his view.

Ahn asked Lee, "Do you think Gong-su-cheo is fulfilling its role well?"

In response, Lee said, "Gong-su-cheo was established with the expectations of the people, but I feel it is currently lacking," and added, "However, there is no organization to investigate the prosecution. From that perspective, the task is to develop its capabilities and have it perform its proper functions, and it is not appropriate to dismantle it."

Yoon said, "Since the confirmation hearing for the Prosecutor General, I have said that if Gong-su-cheo aims to strengthen the country’s public office investigation capabilities, I support it," but also said, "However, like candidate Ahn, seeing what Gong-su-cheo is doing, it seems they lack skills and do not know what to do."

He continued, "I wonder if they do things like wiretapping because they don’t know they shouldn’t," and said, "We should try to fix it as much as possible, and if it doesn’t work, we have no choice but to proceed with abolition."

Yoon emphasized, "Gong-su-cheo went off track because it became entangled with politics," and said, "If I take charge of the government, I will clearly draw the line and ensure that whether it is Gong-su-cheo or the prosecution, they investigate and check each other’s illegal acts and abuse of power during investigations first."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.