Formation of Leadership for National Election Commission Special Counsel Investigation Accelerates; Five Deputy Special Counsels Appointed

[Financial News] Five deputy special counsels have been appointed to the Special Counsel Team Investigating the National Election Commission, led by Special Counsel Lee Tae-han, which is investigating the shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections and other matters. The team has completed the formation of its investigative leadership and will launch a full-scale investigation on the 7th.
According to legal sources on the 2nd, the special counsel team announced through the media late the previous night that President Lee Jae Myung had appointed five deputy special counsels effective that day.
The deputy special counsels assisting Special Counsel Lee are attorneys Park Hyuk (22nd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), Kim Eun-jung (38th class), Kim Sang-chun (first bar examination), Kwon Geun-hwan (second bar examination), and Kim Jin-woo (third bar examination).
The team plans to complete the formation of its investigative organization and assign responsibilities by investigative area, taking into account each deputy special counsel’s expertise and experience.
The special counsel team explained, "We will conduct the investigation based on objective materials and evidence, without any preconceptions or prejudgment, in accordance with the subjects and scope of investigation prescribed by law."
Deputy Special Counsel Park served as a prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office and Changwon District Prosecutors' Office, among others, and was also dispatched to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Deputy Special Counsel Kim Eun-jung built her career as a research prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO), working in its Future Planning Unit under the Planning and Coordination Department, and also served as a prosecutor at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office.
Deputy Special Counsel Kim Sang-chun worked as a researcher at the National Security Technology Research Institute before serving as a prosecutor and a prosecutor at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). Deputy Special Counsel Kwon graduated from the Korean National Police University and later served as a senior superintendent at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and a judge at the Jeonju District Court.
Deputy Special Counsel Kim Jin-woo has served as a member of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea's Criminal Investigation Review Committee, a director of ethics at the Korean Bar Association (KBA), and legal counsel to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), among other positions.
On the 28th of last month, the special counsel team selected 10 candidates for deputy special counsel and asked President Lee Jae Myung to appoint five of them.
The team will begin its full-scale investigation as soon as it starts operations on the 7th. It also reiterated that legality and fairness, as well as the speed of the investigation, would be its top priorities.
The special counsel team stated, "We will make procedural legality and fairness in the investigation our top principles, along with speed," adding, "We will calmly and thoroughly verify the matters necessary to establish the substantive truth, without being influenced by unverified suspicions or one-sided claims during the investigation."
Regarding the progress of the investigation, the team plans to explain matters requiring public communication at an appropriate time, taking into comprehensive consideration the public’s right to know, investigative confidentiality, and the protection of the human rights and reputations of those involved in the case.
 
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