Kim Ji-yong, nominated as the first head of South Korea's new Serious Crime Investigation Agency, said on the 8th that he would work to establish the agency quickly and ensure no citizen suffers injustice during investigations.
"The weight of this responsibility rests heavily on my shoulders," Kim said as he reported to a preparatory office for his confirmation hearing, set up in the Changseong-dong annex of the Government Complex Seoul. "If the hearing process concludes well and I am given the opportunity to serve, I will settle the organization quickly so there is not a single gap in the country's response to serious crime." Shin Jun-ho, deputy chief of the joint investigation headquarters on drug crimes, was appointed to lead Kim's preparations for the parliamentary hearing.
Kim declined to give specific answers on several points of contention, including his past opposition to stripping prosecutors of investigative powers, the controversy over naming a former prosecutor to lead the new agency, and his residence in a jeonse-leased public rental apartment in Seongnam. "I will explain in detail during the hearing process," he said. Asked about doubts over whether the agency can secure early staffing through special appointments, he said he had not yet been briefed on the matter.
A recommendation committee under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety put forward Kim and four others as candidates for the post on the 4th. Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung nominated Kim as the final candidate on the 7th. Kim completed the 28th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute and served as head of the criminal division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and deputy chief prosecutor at the Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office before working as a representative attorney at law firm Apex.
President Lee Jae-myung, on a state visit to France, designated Kim as the nominee on the 8th. "We expect him to lead the agency successfully, drawing on his investigative experience and organizational management skills within a new criminal justice framework that separates investigation from prosecution," Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, said at a briefing there.
The nomination has drawn questions over whether it is appropriate to pick a former prosecutor to head an agency created on the premise of abolishing the prosecution service and separating investigative and indictment powers. Kim's record is also expected to become a point of contention at the hearing: as head of the criminal division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2022, he publicly opposed a push by the Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Party of Korea to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority.
