7th press conference since inauguration; president promises personnel system review, checks on expanded police powers

Calls for unity amid factional tensions: 'We are all comrades — blame me, not each other'

President Lee Jae Myung holds a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbingwan on Friday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung holds a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbingwan on Friday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung drove a stake through speculation about a constitutional amendment to allow him a second term on Friday, declaring he has "absolutely no intention of seeking re-election." He also pledged to complete what he called an "irreversible" overhaul of the prosecution service — centered on separating investigative and indictment powers — and took personal responsibility for factional tensions within his own support base.

Speaking at his seventh official press conference since taking office, held Friday morning at the Yeongbingwan banquet hall of Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said a second term was constitutionally impossible and that he had never entertained the idea. "I have made clear through numerous channels on multiple occasions that I have never even considered re-election," he said.

Lee said he had previously viewed calls for him to formally renounce a second term as a political attack designed to frame him as someone abandoning a plan he had already been pursuing. "Even so, I will again state this clearly and firmly: I have absolutely no intention of seeking re-election," he said, drawing a firm line. He added that all state power, including the power to make appointments, derives from the people, and promised to respect the will of the sovereign public to the fullest in exercising that power. "I will also take this opportunity to review the personnel appointment system," he said.

On reform of powerful state institutions, Lee announced steps both to deepen the prosecution overhaul and to prevent an excessive concentration of power in the police. "After long effort, the reform goal of separating investigation from indictment — through the exclusion of prosecutors from investigations and the division of functions between the public prosecution office and the serious crimes investigation agency — is nearing its conclusion," he said. "I will responsibly complete the irreversible prosecution reform."

Lee also pledged to guard against side effects from the separation of investigative and indictment functions. "The investigation and indictment functions must not fail to operate properly in ways that harm the protection of victims' and citizens' human rights," he said. He added that any problems arising from the absence of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers would be addressed through rigorous checks and safeguards on police investigations. A sweeping police reform, he said, would put to rest public concerns that the police could degenerate into an unchecked power unto themselves as a result of their monopoly over investigations.

Turning to recent factional tensions within his support base, Lee made a forceful appeal for unity. "It is heartbreaking to see people who gave everything — even risking their lives — to overcome the insurrection and work wholeheartedly for the success of a government of popular sovereignty now exchanging words of hatred," he said. "We are all supporters of former Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung, and of the pro-Moon camp — we are all comrades of Lee Jae Myung." He said the greatest responsibility for the painful situation lay with him as the person ultimately in charge of state affairs. "If you want to blame someone, blame my shortcomings and those of my government," he said. "I will listen more, communicate more, and reach out first."

Lee said he would become a "president of unity" who does not lose sight of the values of reform and progress he has set before the people, while drawing on dialogue and communication to reflect the reasonable views of the broadest possible public in state affairs. "I will prove it not with words but with results, and walk the path of people's livelihoods, reform and unity without wavering," he said.


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