Prosecution Overhaul Opens Rift in South Korea’s Liberal Camp
Disputes over the leadership and powers of South Korea’s newly created investigative agency are exposing divisions between President Lee Jae Myung and progressive allies who long championed prosecution reform.
South Korea’s sweeping prosecution overhaul has opened an unusually public rift within the country’s liberal political bloc, as President Lee Jae Myung and the progressive Rebuilding Korea Party disagree over the shape and leadership of the new criminal justice system.
The dispute centers on the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which began operating on Friday after the former Prosecution Service was abolished following 78 years. Under the restructured system, the Public Prosecution Service is responsible for indictments, while the new agency investigates major crimes.
Tensions sharpened after the government nominated career prosecutor Kim Ji-yong as the agency’s first chief. The Rebuilding Korea Party and other reform advocates have criticized the selection, arguing that appointing a prosecutor risks preserving the influence of the institution the overhaul was designed to curb. The party has also pressed the administration to remove former prosecutors from key criminal justice posts and move more aggressively with the changes.
Lee pushed back in public remarks, warning that prosecution reform should not be used to pursue private interests or influence personnel decisions and individual cases. He also pointed to earlier positions taken by reform advocates, saying they had previously supported placing both the investigative agency and the new prosecution body under the Justice Ministry while retaining a limited role for prosecutors in supplementary investigations.
The Rebuilding Korea Party said its earlier proposal assumed that prosecutorial influence inside the Justice Ministry would first be dismantled. It also drew a distinction between allowing prosecutors to request supplementary investigations and permitting them to carry out such investigations directly. The party later accused the presidential office of entering the political dispute to advance its own objective.
The disagreement carries added weight because prosecution reform has served as a defining cause for South Korean liberals for more than two decades. Calls to reduce prosecutors’ concentrated investigative and indictment powers intensified after former President Roh Moo-hyun’s death in 2009 and became a major governing project under former President Moon Jae-in.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok signaled Tuesday that the ruling party may resist additional demands from reform hard-liners. Lee, meanwhile, urged the new investigative agency to pursue crimes involving powerful, wealthy and highly educated figures without favoring either the government or opposition.
The emerging split suggests that abolishing the old prosecution system has not ended the political contest over reform. Instead, attention has shifted to who controls the replacement institutions, how their powers are divided and whether the new structure can operate independently.