President Lee Jae-myung on the 20th called on Kim Ji-yong, head of the newly launched Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, to "mobilize all investigative resources without picking sides or sparing anyone, and to prove to the public why this agency exists and why it is needed, by cracking down hard on serious crime." Kim attended a Cabinet meeting for the first time that day.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House, Lee said prosecution reform was now institutionally complete, with investigation and indictment fully separated and the Public Prosecution Service and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency placed under different ministries. "Now that the agency is starting afresh as an independent body for investigating serious crime, it needs a new sense of resolve and commitment," he said. "As a newly launched organization, it will have many shortcomings."
Lee also asked the agency to "carry out its weighty duties swiftly and strictly, easing the concerns and anxieties the public holds about prosecution reform and fairly maintaining a minimum of social order." He stressed in particular that the agency should "mobilize all investigative resources without picking sides or sparing anyone, and punish severely those serious crimes that destroy people's lives and disrupt social order, including white-collar crime, corruption involving the powerful, collusion between business and politics, and financial crime."
Kim replied that he would "successfully establish the agency, complete prosecution reform and do my utmost to protect the rights and interests of the public."