Special counsel seeks 1-yr prison term for CIO chief for dereliction of duty

A special counsel team on Thursday sought a one-year prison term for the head of the anti-graft agency on charges of dereliction of duty over a criminal complaint filed against one of his subordinates.

Special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon’s team requested the sentence for Oh Dong-woon, chief prosecutor of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), during his trial’s final hearing at the Seoul Central District Court.

Oh is accused of attempting to bury an investigation into Song Chang-jin, a former senior CIO prosecutor, who had become subject to a criminal complaint filed by then opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers in August 2024.

Oh allegedly failed to transfer the complaint to the Supreme Prosecutors Office, as required by law, for 11 months. The special counsel team believes Oh knowingly tried to obstruct an investigation into Song.

DPK lawmakers had filed the complaint against Song, accusing him of perjuring himself at the National Assembly over remarks about a high-profile investigation into the death of a young Marine in 2023.