Lee Tells New Serious Crimes Agency to Pursue Cases Without Exception

President Lee Jae Myung instructed the head of South Korea’s new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency to pursue major offenses without regard to the status or influence of those involved, placing impartial enforcement at the center of the government’s latest prosecutorial reforms.

Lee delivered the message to agency chief Kim Ji-yong during Kim’s first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The president said the organization should focus on crimes that damage people’s lives and undermine social order, specifically identifying white-collar crime, financial violations and corruption involving powerful figures.

The directive puts an early public benchmark on the agency as it begins operating within a reshaped investigative system. Lee said the body must earn public confidence and demonstrate its value through prompt and rigorous enforcement. His emphasis on leaving no one beyond scrutiny also reflects the political sensitivity surrounding investigations of senior officials and influential business figures.

Kim pledged to establish the agency on a firm course, complete the government’s prosecutorial reform agenda and protect the rights and interests of the public. The agency’s performance will be watched closely as responsibilities once associated with prosecutors are redistributed across newly empowered or reorganized institutions.

Lee also directed the national police to improve fairness, transparency and accountability in their investigations. He called for stronger internal discipline after reforms implemented earlier this month expanded police authority. The warning signaled that the administration views institutional checks and public trust as necessary counterparts to broader investigative powers.

Together, the instructions outline the government’s expectations for two central parts of Korea’s revised law-enforcement structure. The new serious-crimes body is being asked to show independence and effectiveness in complex cases, while police face pressure to demonstrate that added authority will be exercised consistently and subject to internal control.

The immediate challenge for the agency will be converting that mandate into operating practices that are both forceful and politically neutral. Its decisions about which cases to open, how quickly to proceed and how transparently to explain its work are likely to shape public judgment of the wider reform program. Lee’s remarks make clear that the administration expects visible results, but also that those results must rest on equal treatment and procedural credibility.