Veteran cop nominated as head of NOI

Woo Jong-soo, the Commissioner General of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police. [GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE]

Local media report that Woo Jong-soo, the Commissioner General of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police, has been nominated as the new head of the National Office of Investigation.

The president’s office will make an official announcement Monday.

A lifelong police officer, Woo started his career in 1999. Not only did he head Yongsan Police Station, but he also headed an investigation team at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and was stationed in Russia.

Woo headed the investigation into the infamous "Druking" online opinion rigging scandal of 2018.

Then-Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae ordered the investigation after a flood of online comments criticizing President Moon Jae-in ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

It was later found that Kim Kyoung-soo, the provincial governor of South Gyeongsang and a close ally of President Moon, collaborated with a blogger nicknamed "Druking" to rig online opinion.

Kim was sentenced to two years and pardoned by President Yoon in December 2022.

The announcement came a month after the previous nominee Chung Sun-sin, a former prosecutor, stepped down after it was revealed that his son bullied a classmate in high school.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]