President Lee Jae-myung on the 1st pushed back against criticism from within his own camp over the prosecutorial background of Kim Ji-yong, the nominee to head the new Major Crimes Investigation Agency, asking, "Do we discard everyone who once served as a prosecutor?"
In an early morning post on X, formerly Twitter, Lee shared a user's message opposing Kim's appointment and said many of those objecting are "sincerely worried about me and the future of the country." He added, "But if we discard everyone who once served as a prosecutor, what becomes of Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Park Eun-jung, Chief Prosecutor Lim Eun-jung and Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Sung-yoon? They all served as prosecutors."
"If we are told not to appoint a former prosecutor who is an investigative expert to head a major investigative body simply because the person once served as a prosecutor, that amounts to ruining the agency," Lee said. "If the agency cannot function properly, what happens to the nation's order and the safety of its people?"
Lee stressed that claims against Kim, including allegations that he was aligned with former President Yoon Suk-yeol, were examined further over an extended period. The additional vetting found the claims were "largely untrue, or in some cases proved to be outlandish falsehoods," he said.
"The goal of prosecutorial reform is not to take revenge on the prosecution or to wreck it, is it?" Lee said. "Isn't it to separate investigation from indictment, to ensure the prosecution is never again abused by those in power, and to make investigations and indictments work properly?" He added, "Neither state affairs nor prosecutorial reform should be about settling personal feelings or old grudges. Nor should they serve the interests of any particular person or group."
On how Kim was selected, Lee said the choice was not his alone. "An independent recommendation committee put forward four candidates, after which the interior minister nominated Kim," he said. "Following consultations, Kim was judged to be the most suitable." He added that excluding Kim would mean replacing him with one of the three remaining candidates. "Whether the objections raised about Kim are grounds for a renewed nomination, or whether any of the three remaining candidates could replace him, is still a matter for deliberation and judgment," he said.
Objections surfaced within the governing camp. Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae wrote on Facebook that she had once visited a restaurant on a recommendation, "but on closer look, the hygiene was a mess and the staff were unfriendly. The ingredients and the taste were both poor." She said, "Once I learned that the sign out front and the reality inside were different, I could not recommend the place to others."
"The same goes for people," she added. "I believe it is only right for someone who has seen it firsthand to point out what others should watch out for." Given that Choo has recently raised strong objections to Kim, her restaurant analogy is read as a reference to the nominee.
