NOI chief designate quits after son's bullying history surfaces

Above shows the building of the National Office of Investigation (NOI) in Seodaemun District, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

The newly appointed chief of the National Office of Investigation (NOI) declined to take up the position a day before the start date after a case against his son years earlier came to light.

“I apologize for the problem involving my son, and my family and I apologize to the victim and the victim’s parents once again,” Chung Sun-sin said in a statement on Saturday.

The incident has raised questions about the government's new screening process, set up to vet nominees for high ranking positions to weed out those with questionable histories.

“I withdraw my application for the chief of the National Office of Investigation,” Chung said.

Chung’s son had reportedly abused a high school roommate verbally for eight straight months in 2017, causing the victim suffer severe psychological trauma and eventually attempt suicide.

The school punished Chung’s son by asking him to transfer to another high school.

Chung, who was the legal representative of his son, filed an administrative lawsuit against the school, saying the punishment is too harsh.

The court ruled in favor of the school, saying the “school’s response is inappropriate,” while Chung appealed the case. The Supreme Court in 2019 upheld the ruling and his son had to transfer to another school eventually.

Chung’s son currently studies at the Seoul National University.

“It is regretful to see there were issues that have not been filtered during the screening process,” a spokesperson from the Yongsan presidential office said during a press briefing on Sunday.

“Currently, the screening and verification process for public officials is done accessing disclosed information and that that can be accessed legally, but the process was not thorough enough as the issue this time was related to the candidate’s child.”

According to the presidential office, school reports of the children of candidates are not included as documents to be checked during the screening process.

The presidential office said it will look for ways to improve the current issues in the system, adding the president has a clear position on school bullying.

“The president is seeing the issue strictly as school violence violates the rights of students to be educated fairly,” a spokesperson from the office said.

The Democratic Party took some shots at the president for the failure, especially as the bullying case had been reported by the press five years earlier.

"The fairness and common sense that Yoon promised has been thoroughly bungled," a DP spokesperson said.

The candidate screening process done by the Ministry of Justice was also criticized, raising questions about the capabilities of the ministry of assessing appropriate candidates.

The Justice Ministry is currently in charge of screening high-ranking officials after President Yoon abolished the office of the Blue House senior secretary for civil affairs, which was in charge of the screening process.

Yoon aimed to benchmark the U.S. personnel vetting system, letting the Justice Ministry and the police take over such role.

Yoon Hee-keun, National Police Agency commissioner general, was also targeted for criticism as he recommended Chung out of the three candidates who applied for the position.

“The recommendation was made considering all factors,” the commissioner general told the press on Friday.

When asked whether Chung’s appointment was related to his previous relationship with the president, the commissioner general denied the allegation. Chung worked at the prosecution with President Yoon and is a colleague of Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon.

The chief of the NOI is recommended by the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency and goes through Interior and Safety Minister and the Prime Minister before getting appointed by the president.

The NOI is an independent investigative institution formed in 2021 after laws were revised to reorganize the jurisdictions of police and prosecutors, putting police in charge of investigations and prosecution on indictment.

The head of the NOI has the authority to instruct around 30,000 investigative police across the country during the two-year term.

The currently vacant position will be temporarily filled by the National Police Agency’s Investigation Planning and Coordination Bureau.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]