Lee Says Era of Political Prosecutors is Over as Major Crime Investigation Agency Launches

President Lee Jae-myung stated on October 1 that the era of prosecutors exercising unchecked power through exclusive control over investigations and prosecutions, often acting as political tools for eliminating opponents, is coming to an end. This announcement comes a day before the official launch of the Public Prosecution Service and the Major Crime Investigation Agency.

The Blue House also confirmed plans to submit a hearing request to the National Assembly for Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for the inaugural head of the Major Crime Investigation Agency, following additional verification.

During the 48th senior secretary meeting held at the Blue House, President Lee remarked, "Tomorrow, the Public Prosecution Service and the Major Crime Investigation Agency will officially launch, marking the beginning of a new criminal justice system based on the principles of checks and balances." He added, "The prosecutor reform, which was initiated during the Participatory Government and further developed under the Moon Jae-in administration, is finally bearing fruit under our people's sovereignty government."

President Lee characterized the launch of the Public Prosecution Service and the Major Crime Investigation Agency as a historic step aimed at protecting citizens' lives from illegality and injustice, and enhancing the protection of human rights and rights. He emphasized that this would be recorded as a new chapter in the history of reforming power institutions in South Korea, following the civilian control of the military and the depoliticization of intelligence agencies.

He called for swift follow-up measures to ensure the new criminal justice system is firmly established. "It is as important to ensure that the system takes root in daily life and genuinely improves citizens' lives as it is to create the system," he said.

President Lee urged that during the establishment of the new system, every effort must be made to prevent any unjust harm to citizens and to ensure that there are no gaps in investigative capacity, fairness, or victim protection. He stressed the need to expedite necessary follow-up measures for the prompt stabilization of the new organization.

The Blue House announced that it would proceed with the National Assembly's personnel hearing process for Kim Ji-yong after completing additional verification. Sung Ki-hong, the Blue House's chief of public relations, stated during a briefing that the results of the additional verification did not differ from the initial findings, noting that some of the allegations raised were either inaccurate or based on vague assumptions.

He added, "At this stage, we do not believe it is appropriate to deprive the nominee of the opportunity to clarify during the National Assembly hearing."

Previously, Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung proposed Kim's appointment on September 7. Following opposition voices from hardliners within the ruling party regarding Kim's prosecutorial background and various allegations, President Lee ordered additional verification.

In response to criticisms regarding Kim's prosecutorial career, Sung stated, "Not all prosecutors are bad. While there have been some bad prosecutors, we cannot exclude all prosecutors from national functions. That would be closer to destruction under the guise of reform rather than actual reform."

With the Blue House formalizing its plan to submit the personnel hearing request, the process for appointing the inaugural head of the Major Crime Investigation Agency is expected to accelerate. However, given that the agency is set to launch on October 2, an acting head is likely to be in place until the new head is appointed.

President Lee also emphasized the need for reform within the police, which will see an expansion of roles and powers due to the restructuring of investigative authority. He stated, "With the redistribution of powers, police reform will become a major task for our government, and the responsibilities of the police have never been more significant."

He added, "As their powers increase, external oversight and internal self-regulation must be strictly enforced. Particularly, strong and practical reform measures are necessary to ensure that the public does not have to worry about incidents of evidence tampering or investigative corruption."

Additionally, President Lee reflected on the one-year anniversary of the fire at the National Information Resource Management Agency, noting that the incident highlighted the importance of stable operation and disaster recovery systems for national information systems.

According to a written briefing by Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jeong, President Lee stated, "The government has been strengthening safety measures for related facilities and enhancing disaster recovery manuals, but more fundamental improvements are needed. We must expedite the establishment of a redundancy system for core information systems and ensure that safety measures are meticulously prepared to maintain stable national functions in various crisis situations."

He also called for ongoing structural reforms at the government level to build a national information system that aligns with the status of an AI and digital powerhouse.

President Lee noted that the number of industrial accident fatalities has reached a record low since statistics began being compiled in the first half of this year, and that suicide rates are also showing a downward trend, indicating that the government's life safety policies are yielding results on the ground.

However, he pointed out that there are still many issues requiring careful attention, including youth suicides, disaster-related deaths, solitary deaths, and crime-related fatalities.

In a subsequent closed meeting, President Lee received a report from the social policy office regarding measures to strengthen representation for vulnerable workers, such as small business and platform workers.

The social policy office reported that it is necessary to support small business workers, who have a unionization rate of less than 1%, and platform workers, who lack representation, in organizing themselves to voice their concerns, including increasing unionization rates among small business workers and supporting various forms of organization for platform workers.

The AI Future Planning Office reported on the implementation plan for a problem-solving-centered national AI policy 2.0, outlining three key directions. First, it aims to connect specific demands from public and industrial sectors to AI services and markets, and to expand the overseas presence of verified services. It also plans to strengthen safety systems for assessing and verifying AI risks, while ensuring that the benefits of AI are spread across all aspects of citizens' lives and addressing job and regional industrial shocks during the transition process.

After receiving the report, President Lee emphasized that a new system is necessary to open new markets, and that it is important to actively promote AI development and utilization while simultaneously enhancing evaluation and safety capabilities.

Furthermore, President Lee mentioned concerns raised during his recent trip regarding the difficulties faced by overseas adoptees in verifying their personal information, urging that swift changes be explored beyond slow legal amendments.