President Lee Jae-myung said the biggest obstacle to reform is "obstructing reform in the name of reform," signaling criticism of hardline demands for reform from within his own camp. The remarks are read as drawing a line against excessive competition over ideological purity, at a time when criticism of a "retreat from reform" is intensifying within progressive circles over prosecution reform and the appointment of the first chief of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency.
Writing on X on the 12th, Lee said the country "must also be wary of radical agitation that exploits the pure aspirations of some who hope for revolutionary change in order to display one's own ideological purity, thereby provoking resistance and a counter-rally that ultimately obstructs reform and brings about reaction."
He pushed back in particular against the view in some quarters that his commitment to reform has weakened. "I have never for a single moment abandoned the goals and values of reform," Lee said. He added, "Whether it was the 25-year-old Lee Jae-myung who 36 years ago gave up the path of a judge or prosecutor and took out loans to begin work as a human rights lawyer, or the Lee Jae-myung of 2026 who has taken the helm of a Republic of Korea beset by every kind of crisis and is sprinting toward an irreplaceable Korea of new hope, the dream of a world where the strong are restrained and the weak are lifted up, a 'world where we live together,' has not changed at all."
On the pace and method of reform, he argued for caution. "Reform is harder than revolution," Lee said. "Reform must be delicate and procedural under the broadest possible consensus, and it must prove itself through effective results by minimizing pain and resistance."
He also stressed the responsibility of those in power. "When you have no authority, you have no responsibility either, and irresponsible claims do little harm," he said. "But once you hold authority, you must bear the commensurate unlimited responsibility."
On personnel appointments, he said, "Public office must be service for everyone," adding that "appointing people simply because they are close, even if they are corrupt or incompetent, is a shortcut to failure and an attitude befitting a conqueror rather than a representative." He continued, "An election that decides who will represent everyone and a war that decides who will take everything are different things."
He also stressed that the backlash that comes with reform must not be avoided. "If you do nothing, nothing happens," he said. "Reform inevitably brings backlash, but without reform there is no backlash either."
The message came as criticism continued from supporters of the governing camp and parts of the progressive movement over the revision of the organizational structure of the Public Prosecution Office and the nomination of Kim Ji-yong as the first candidate to head the Major Crimes Investigation Agency. On the same day, Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae criticized Kim's nomination and took direct aim at Lee, asking, "The forces behind the insurrection should be punished, so why are you being carried along by these forces and agonizing over it?"
Lee closed by expressing hope that "everyone can move forward together toward a nation that is independent, peaceful and safe, and that is democratic, fair and grows inclusively."
