Kim Yong-min, Cho Kuk Innovation Party rebut Lee's reform post
In short
Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min said on Oct. 5 that he never proposed placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Justice or leaving prosecutors at the prosecution office with supplementary investigation rights, rebutting a post by President Lee Jae-myung the same day. The Cho Kuk Innovation Party also rebutted Lee, saying it did once propose putting both bodies under the Ministry of Justice in 2024 but formally changed its party line to place the investigation agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Both sides cite their own past bills, from 2020, 2021 and 2024, as evidence for their accounts.
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Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min, described by the outlets as a hardliner on prosecution reform, said on Oct. 5 that he never proposed placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (중수청) under the Ministry of Justice or leaving prosecutors at the prosecution office (공소청) with supplementary investigation rights, rebutting a post by President Lee Jae-myung. The Cho Kuk Innovation Party issued its own rebuttal through senior spokesperson Park Byung-eon. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 ]
Lee wrote on X that the Cho Kuk Innovation Party and most advocates of prosecution reform had proposed putting both the investigation agency and the prosecution office inside the Ministry of Justice, along with giving the prosecution office supplementary investigation rights. [ 2 , 5 ]
Lee also said his government had gone further by separating investigation and prosecution into the two bodies, assigning them separately to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and removing supplementary investigation rights. CBS NoCut News reported that the post was seen as a response to writer Yoo Si-min, who said he had never heard the president describe splitting investigation and prosecution within the Ministry of Justice as the maximum of reform and that the president had deceived the public. [ 3 , 5 ]
In his Facebook post, Kim said that “complete separation of investigation and prosecution and mutual checks” were the core of successful reform. He said the 중수청 bill he proposed in 2021 with fellow lawmakers designed the agency as an independent investigative body on the Corruption Investigation Office model rather than a Ministry of Justice body, and that a March 2025 interview proposed placing it under the Prime Minister's Office, adding that his position was that it could never be placed in the Ministry of Justice. On the prosecution office, he said the bill he first proposed in December 2020 allowed prosecutors only to request supplementary investigation rather than conduct it themselves. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
Park said the Cho Kuk Innovation Party did introduce a 2024 bill placing both bodies under the Ministry of Justice, but that after President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment and the change of government, and seeing de-prosecutorialisation at the ministry retreat, it formally went through a party-line change to put the investigation agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. He said the party advocated a right to request supplementary investigation, not a supplementary investigation right, pointing to its January alternative bill that specified repealing Article 196 of the Criminal Procedure Act and a June statement that prosecutors should have only the right to request supplementary investigation. [ 2 , 5 ]
Kim added that the Lee government's prosecution reform had adopted the most reformist of the plans discussed, and that all sides should now work to make the system settle in practice and prevent any retreat, such as a revival of investigation rights through personnel ties. He said the separation of investigation and prosecution would take hold after some time, and that the government's will and effort would hasten it. [ 3 ]
Why it matters
The exchange puts the president publicly at odds with a leading lawmaker of his own party and with the junior party over how far the government's prosecution reform should go. The documents show the two sides disagreeing in public about the record behind the bills, not only about the bills' contents. The documents give no indication of how the disagreement will affect the legislation or the new agencies.
Key facts
- Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min, described by the outlets as a hardliner on prosecution reform, said on Oct. 5 that he never proposed placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (중수청) under the Ministry of Justice or leaving prosecutors at the prosecution office (공소청) with supplementary investigation rights. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim said the 중수청 bill he proposed in 2021 designed the agency as an independent investigative body on the model of the Corruption Investigation Office, and that a March 2025 interview floated placing it under the Prime Minister's Office. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim said the prosecution office bill he first proposed in December 2020 allowed prosecutors only to request supplementary investigation rather than conduct it themselves. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Cho Kuk Innovation Party senior spokesperson Park Byung-eon said the party did introduce a 2024 bill placing both the prosecution office and the investigation agency under the Ministry of Justice, but formally changed its party line to place the investigation agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. [ 2 , 5 ]
- The party said it advocated a right to request supplementary investigation, not a supplementary investigation right, citing its January alternative bill that specified repealing Article 196 of the Criminal Procedure Act and a June statement on prosecutors' role. [ 2 , 5 ]
- President Lee Jae-myung wrote on X that the Cho Kuk Innovation Party and most advocates of prosecution reform had proposed putting the investigation agency and the prosecution office inside the Ministry of Justice, together with giving the prosecution office supplementary investigation rights. [ 2 , 5 ]
- Lee said his government went further by separating investigation and prosecution into the two bodies and assigning them to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety respectively, and by removing supplementary investigation rights. [ 3 , 5 ]
- Kim added that the Lee government's reform adopted the most reformist of the plans discussed, that the separation of investigation and prosecution would take hold after some time, and that there should be no retreat such as a revival of investigation rights through personnel ties. [ 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Kim Yong-min is a Democratic Party lawmaker known as a hardliner on prosecution reform. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim said he never proposed placing the investigation agency under the Ministry of Justice. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim said he never proposed leaving prosecutors with supplementary investigation rights. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim said the 2021 bill he proposed designed the investigation agency as an independent investigative body outside the Ministry of Justice. [ 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- The Cho Kuk Innovation Party issued its own rebuttal of President Lee's account. [ 1 , 2 , 5 ]
- Lee's X post said the Cho Kuk Innovation Party and most prosecution reform advocates had proposed putting both bodies under the Ministry of Justice and giving the prosecution office supplementary investigation rights. [ 2 , 5 ]
- The Cho Kuk Innovation Party said it introduced a 2024 bill placing both bodies under the Ministry of Justice but later formally changed its party line to put the investigation agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. [ 2 , 5 ]
Still unclear
- Whether President Lee's description of what reform advocates had previously proposed is accurate remains disputed. The accounts rest on each side's own statements about past bills; the documents name the bills and dates but do not reproduce their contents, so there is no independent record in the documents.
- Seoul Shinmun's headline says the Cho Kuk Innovation Party said it had not changed its position, while the party's own spokesperson statement says it went through a formal party-line change. Seoul Shinmun carries only a headline with no article text or summary, so it is not clear what position the headline refers to; Yonhap and CBS NoCut News report the party as saying it changed its party line.
- Writer Yoo Si-min's claim that President Lee had never described splitting investigation and prosecution within the Ministry of Justice as the maximum of reform. It appears in only one document, and the documents do not say whether Yoo responded to the presidential post.
- The article text carried under the Newsis headline concerns cybersecurity at financial firms and does not cover this event. Only the Newsis headline matches the event, so no article-level detail from that outlet is used.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Seoul Shinmun publishes a report saying the Cho Kuk Innovation Party directly rebutted President Lee and said it had not changed its position. [ 1 ]
- Yonhap publishes Kim Yong-min's Facebook rebuttal and the Cho Kuk Innovation Party spokesperson's statement, citing President Lee's X post. [ 2 ]
- Seoul Economic Daily publishes Kim Yong-min's remarks and his call for the new system to settle in practice. [ 3 ]
- Newsis publishes a report headlined on Kim's denial of the two proposals. [ 4 ]
- CBS NoCut News publishes a summary of both rebuttals, including the party-line change and the context of writer Yoo Si-min's claim. [ 5 ]