President Lee Jae Myung. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that the government has taken its prosecution reform plan a step further by splitting investigative and indictment functions into two separate agencies — a serious crimes investigation bureau and a public prosecution office — to be placed under different ministries.

Lee made the remarks on X after sharing a clip in which writer Yoo Si-min said during a recent YouTube broadcast that he had "never once heard" of Lee's proposal to separate investigation and indictment powers.

In the video, Yoo criticized Lee's plan, saying it differed from the Democratic Party of Korea's established position and from what had been known as the president's campaign pledge on prosecution reform.

Lee said the Rebuilding Korea Party, along with most advocates of prosecution reform, had called for placing both a serious crimes investigation bureau and a public prosecution office within the Ministry of Justice, with the prosecution office also retaining supplementary investigative powers.

He said that in the course of pursuing the reform, the demand to strip the prosecution office of supplementary investigative powers — a position shift by those same advocates — had also been accepted. "The separation of investigation and indictment, which is the essence of prosecution reform, is now complete to the point where even supplementary investigations are prohibited," he said.

Lee acknowledged widespread public concern over potential abuse of investigative powers by police and the serious crimes investigation bureau, as well as the risk of cases being buried or distorted. He pledged to address those concerns through institutional safeguards, including stricter internal oversight and inspections within the police and thorough review of cases forwarded without indictment.


sang@heraldcorp.com