![The Renaissance Square building in Jung-gu, Seoul, which will house the headquarters and Seoul branch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, pictured Tuesday after the agency's subordinate regulations governing its operations and organizational structure cleared a Cabinet meeting. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/19/rcv.YNA.20260818.PYH2026081810910001300_P1.jpg)
South Korea has opened a public nomination process to select the first director of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, set to launch Oct. 2. The director, a vice-ministerial-level post with a two-year term, will oversee 2,874 investigators and staff nationwide and lead investigations into seven categories of serious crime. The agency will form a three-pillar investigative structure alongside the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, making the role of its inaugural director especially consequential.
The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Wednesday the formation of a candidate recommendation committee for the director's post and said it will accept nominations through Aug. 26. Any citizen, organization or legal entity may submit a nomination, which must include key personal details about the proposed candidate and a written explanation of the recommendation.
The central eligibility requirement is 15 years of relevant experience. Candidates must meet one of three criteria: at least 15 years working in investigation or legal affairs at a state institution or government ministry; at least 15 years serving as a judge, prosecutor or attorney; or at least 15 years as an assistant professor or above in law at a university or research institution. Given these requirements, former prosecutors and police officers with extensive investigative backgrounds are expected to make up a large share of nominees.
The ministry will compile both its own shortlist and publicly submitted nominations and forward the combined pool to the recommendation committee. The panel is set to convene in early September to review candidates and identify at least three suitable nominees for the post. The interior minister will then select a final candidate from that group. The nominee will undergo a confirmation hearing before the National Assembly before the president formally appoints the director.
Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said he hoped the public would "actively participate in the nomination process so that a qualified person with both expertise and impartiality can stably lead the newly established organization."
The candidate recommendation committee comprises nine members. Six serve in ex-officio capacities: the vice ministers of justice and interior, the deputy chief of the National Court Administration, the president of the Korean Bar Association, the president of the Korean Law Professors Association, and the president of the Law School Association. The three appointed members are Lee Ju-won, a professor at Korea University School of Law; Kim Hyo-bung, managing attorney at law firm Jungburo; and Hong Jong-hui, auditor of the Korean Bar Association Legal Aid Foundation.
The ministry named Lee as committee chair. Lee, a graduate of the 21st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, previously served as a research judge at the Supreme Court and as a presiding judge at the Gwangju District Court. After moving into academia, he participated in major committees at the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice, and served on the Prosecutors' Personnel Committee from 2022 to 2023, reviewing the fairness of prosecutorial appointments.
The ministry said the agency will have a total authorized strength of 2,874 personnel — 2,567 investigators and 307 in general and other positions — organized into a headquarters responsible for setting investigative policy on the seven serious crime categories and six regional offices in Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan and Gwangju. The agency's launch preparation team is currently working to secure roughly 2,500 investigators.
nyang@heraldcorp.com
