Choo Mi-ae Rebukes President Lee Over Prosecution Reform, Investigation Agency Pick

Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae publicly criticized the Lee Jae-myung administration over its prosecution reform drive and its pick to head the new Major Crimes Investigation Agency. She took particular aim at President Lee, asking, "The insurrection forces should be punished, so why is he leaning on them and agonizing over it?"

Choo made the remarks on the 12th at the 2026 Gyeonggi Province Memorial Service for Victims of the Democratization Movement, held at the Democratic Martyrs' Cemetery in Moran Park in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, according to political sources. "Democratization is an ongoing process," she said, laying out her views on prosecution reform.

Choo argued that prosecutors wield excessive power. "The prosecution forces that squeeze and block the livelihoods of ordinary people hold all the power, the investigative authority, the power to indict and to request warrants, and they use false confessions, coax witnesses, hold testimony seminars and throw drinking parties to distort cases," she said. "How can there be democratization without resolving that contradiction?"

She also voiced strong dissatisfaction with the nomination of attorney Kim Ji-yong, a former prosecutor, as the first chief of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency. "If someone who was in the same boat as Han Dong-hoon becomes the first head of the agency, is that democratization? Is that changing the country? Is that serving the will of the sovereign people?" Choo said. "That is why democratization is by no means over."

Her criticism was also directed at President Lee. "People pooled their strength to overcome the insurrection, revived electoral democracy and restored the constitutional order that the insurrection forces nearly stole away," Choo said. "If that is so, the president should be punishing these forces, so why is he leaning on them and agonizing over it? Why is he treating the spirits of the democratization martyrs as a thing of the past?" She added, "I came here today not as Gyeonggi Province governor but as one conscience living through this era," saying, "I cannot help but confess to the departed spirits my deep regret for failing to fulfill my duty."

Choo has publicly criticized President Lee's approach to prosecution reform in recent days as well. Appearing on the program "Kim Eo-jun's Humility Is Hard: News Factory" on the 10th, she was asked about the cause of the decline in Lee's approval rating. "The president's approval rating is falling because of prosecution reform, and I see no other reason," she said. She added, "If we say we are worried about a backlash on prosecution reform, the first reform for those of us living in this era, then all kinds of doubts come flooding in, and that would be how his supporters feel."