President Lee Jae Myung is moving ahead with the appointment process for Kim Ji-yong as the first head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, setting up a political dispute just as the new investigative body prepares to launch. The presidential office said an additional review had not changed its assessment of Kim and that it would send a confirmation-hearing request to the National Assembly.
The dispute centers on claims from some figures in the ruling Democratic Party that Kim is too closely associated with former President Yoon Suk Yeol and is an unsuitable choice for an institution created through prosecution reform. The presidential office rejected that characterization. It pointed to Kim's promotion to senior prosecutor under the Moon Jae-in administration, his role in ordering a renewed investigation involving Yoon's mother-in-law while serving at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and his later transfer away from Seoul after the Yoon administration took office.
The nomination has become an early test for the new agency
The presidential office also said its additional vetting found that several allegations against Kim were inaccurate, speculative or concerned matters in which he had not been directly involved. It argued that excluding him simply because he is a former prosecutor would not serve the goal of reform, and said investigative expertise and command experience were important for getting the new agency established.
That defense has not ended resistance inside the governing camp. Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae publicly challenged the president's assessment, while Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min argued that putting someone viewed by critics as part of the old prosecution establishment in charge of the new agency would undermine the purpose of reform. Other ruling-party figures, including Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, defended the president's effort to correct what they described as inaccurate framing of the nominee.
The opposition People Power Party is attacking the launch from a different direction. It says the restructuring could create an investigative gap and has criticized the readiness of the new agency, including staffing and facilities. The party took its campaign outside the National Assembly and said it planned another rally near Sungnyemun on October 3.
The launch debate extends beyond the nominee
The timing raises the stakes. The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency is due to begin operations as the government restructures the prosecution system and separates major investigative functions from prosecution. With the agency's first leadership appointment still contested, the argument is no longer only about Kim's record. It also concerns whether the new institution can begin work with enough political and organizational authority to manage the transition.
The immediate next step is the National Assembly confirmation process. That hearing will give Kim an opportunity to answer the allegations directly and will test whether the presidential office's additional vetting satisfies critics in the ruling party. Beyond the nomination itself, the early test for the new agency will be whether it can establish staffing, facilities and operating procedures without the investigative disruption warned of by the opposition.