Kim Ji-yong, nominated to head South Korea's newly created Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, apologized for past overreach by prosecutors and distanced himself from former Prosecutor General Yoon Suk-yeol in an attempt to confront criticism head-on. He still struggled under concentrated attacks from both the ruling and opposition camps. The Democratic Party of Korea, which drove the overhaul of the criminal justice system, questioned his fitness by focusing on his past record, while the opposition People Power Party took aim at his capacity to lead the new agency and warned of gaps in investigative coverage.
At a confirmation hearing before the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on the 14th, Kim said he would "make human rights the top priority in line with the separation of investigation and prosecution, so that no one is wronged during the investigative process." On past heavy-handed practices by prosecutors, he stressed that "the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will not repeat the problems the public worries about, such as targeted investigations and fishing expeditions, and will investigate solely according to law and principle."
Asked by Rep. Park Duk-hyum of the People Power Party to name the first "political prosecutor" within the prosecution service, Kim replied that the former prosecutor general "would be the first when it comes to having a bad influence." Asked whether Rep. Han Dong-hoon, now an independent, also belonged in that category, Kim added that it was "hard to deny." The remarks were read as an effort to put distance between himself and allegations that he is a Yoon loyalist, while signaling his commitment to prosecution reform as the agency's first chief.
The ruling bloc nonetheless pressed him on his failure to leave a clear record of dissent while sitting in the chain of command during major investigations involving political power. Questions centered on his responsibility as head of the criminal division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office for not blocking the indictments in the case of former senior prosecutor Jung Jin-woong, charged with abuse of authority and assault, and in the case of the illegal exit ban imposed on former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui. Rep. Yoon Gun-young of the Democratic Party took aim at Kim's vague answers on whether he had signed off on the indictments, calling it "a cowardly choice to turn a blind eye to injustice, without even submitting the relevant materials to the fact-finding team at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office."
Rep. Jung Chun-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party, citing the first-instance ruling in the Kim Hak-eui case, noted indications that the leadership of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had approved the exit ban in advance. "Even though the approval of the office's leadership at the time clearly existed, they shifted the frame to treat it as an illegal exit ban case and took part in fabricating indictments against those involved," she said. Under repeated questioning, Kim cited the cases in which acquittals were finalized by the Supreme Court and said, "I cannot say I bear no responsibility at all, and I am willing to apologize."
Kim's participation in a 2020 collective statement calling for the withdrawal of Yoon's suspension from duty also drew fire. Repeatedly denying that he is a Yoon loyalist, Kim explained his involvement in the statement by saying he "had doubts about whether the procedure at the time was being carried out properly." Rep. Lee Kwang-hee of the Democratic Party then accused Kim of applying a double standard, noting that he defended his own past collective action as appropriate while drawing a line against the case of Lim Eun-jung, head of the Gwangju branch of the agency, who publicly criticized him.
Disputes over inadequate preparation for the hearing and refusal to submit documents further broadened the ruling bloc's objections. Rep. Park Jung-hyun of the Democratic Party pointed to the failure to submit key materials, including operating manuals kept in handwritten form. "If it simply repeats the way the Supreme Prosecutors' Office treated the National Assembly, the agency will be nothing more than a prosecution service, season two," he said.
The People Power Party focused its questioning on the delay in the nomination caused by infighting within the ruling bloc and on what it called a rushed launch of the agency. The concern is that serious crime investigations could be disrupted because the agency began operating without a chief, with insufficient staff and incomplete systems. Rep. Kang Myung-koo, the party's committee liaison on the Public Administration and Security Committee, criticized the ruling bloc for letting internal conflict delay the hearing and leave the agency without investigative capacity, saying, "They did not send the confirmation request on the grounds that they were conducting additional vetting, and instead fought among themselves."
Rep. Park Sang-woong said Kim had opposed stripping prosecutors of their investigative powers in the past but changed his position as the nominee to lead the agency, calling it "an opportunistic attitude rather than a statement of conviction."
Meanwhile, Chung Jom-sig, the People Power Party's floor leader, took aim at the ruling bloc's internal conflict over Kim's nomination at a news conference the same day. "Over the past 38 days, the essence of the conflict was not whether Kim Ji-yong is pro-Yoon or anti-Yoon, but whether you are pro-Lee or anti-Lee," he said. "We have seen a lame-duck phenomenon in which ruling party figures openly shake the president's personnel authority."