President Lee Jae-myung on the 15th ordered officials to "swiftly draw up extraordinary measures with the resolve to declare war on violent crime." The directive is seen as an effort to dispel concerns about a gap in law enforcement during the overhaul of the criminal justice system.
Speaking at a meeting of senior presidential secretaries at the Blue House, Lee said, "Public anxiety is very high as fatalities from crimes involving intimate partners or family members and violent incidents such as knife attacks have occurred one after another." He added, "Create something like a pan-government joint response body and closely examine whether there were any gaps in existing measures." He also stressed the need to check "whether victim protection devices are working properly, and whether high-risk groups prone to committing crimes, such as those wearing electronic monitoring anklets, are being properly managed."
Separately, a day before marking 500 days in office, Lee said he would "firmly pursue the path of improving livelihoods, pragmatic reform and inclusive unity." Im Kwang-hyun, the new presidential chief of staff, attended the meeting for the first time.