Lee Says Prosecution Reform Must Serve Public, Not Political Legacies

President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that South Korea’s prosecution reform must be implemented for the public rather than used to build the political legacy of any individual, as the government turns from legislating the overhaul to putting the new system into practice.

In a social media post, Lee rejected attempts by any participant to claim exclusive credit for a reform achieved through collective effort. He said it would be wrong to dismiss other people’s contributions as useless or obstructive in an effort to monopolize the result.

Lee framed the overhaul as an institutional safeguard rather than retaliation against prosecutors. Its purpose, he said, is not to destroy prosecutorial functions but to separate investigation from indictment so that neither power can be abused by the government and both can operate effectively.

The president also disputed suggestions that his administration had delayed the process. He said the changes were completed swiftly under an agreement between the government and the ruling party, going beyond earlier proposals by placing the two principal functions under separate ministries.

Under the new structure described by Lee, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will conduct investigations, while the Prosecution Service under the Ministry of Justice will handle indictments and maintain prosecutions in court. Lee said the legal task of separating investigation and prosecution has now been completed, leaving the government responsible for ensuring that both institutions settle into their roles and function properly.

He said the investigation agency should pursue corruption by public officials, stock manipulation, collusion and other white-collar crimes rigorously, without favoring either the government or opposition. The prosecution body, he added, should act as a representative of the public interest, protect human rights, and make indictment and trial decisions fairly and transparently.

Lee ended with a warning about how the new system is administered. Public duties require officials to distinguish public responsibilities from private interests and to abandon personal motives, he said. No one should invoke prosecution reform as a pretext to control appointments or interfere in specific investigations and prosecutions for personal ends.

The remarks place accountability and operational independence at the center of the next phase of the overhaul. With the statutory framework in place, the test now shifts to whether the two institutions can exercise their divided powers without political favoritism while preserving effective enforcement and due-process protections.