President Yoon Suk Yeol has approved the confirmation request for Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for the inaugural head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, advancing the appointment process. In response to concerns raised within the ruling party regarding Kim's ties to the pro-Yoon faction, the administration has stated that further verification will take place during the National Assembly confirmation hearing.
On October 2, Chief Presidential Secretary Kang Yu-jeong announced that President Yoon had signed the confirmation request for Kim the previous day. This coincides with the establishment of the new agency, which is set to undergo the National Assembly's confirmation process for its first chief.
Earlier, Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-joong had recommended Kim for the position on September 7. Following pushback from some ruling party members regarding Kim's past conduct during his tenure as a prosecutor, President Yoon directed additional verification of Kim's qualifications.
In a briefing the day before, Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations Seong Gi-hong stated, "The results of the additional verification did not change the initial findings, and we believe it is not appropriate to deny the nominee the opportunity to clarify his qualifications during the National Assembly hearing at this stage."
Seong also countered claims of Kim being a pro-Yoon prosecutor by detailing his career. He noted that Kim was promoted to chief prosecutor during the tenure of then-Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae in 2020 and ordered a reinvestigation into the perjury case involving former President Yoon's mother-in-law while serving as head of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2021. As a result, Kim was demoted in the first prosecutor reshuffle under the Yoon administration in 2022.
Regarding Kim's participation in a statement requesting a review of the suspension and disciplinary action against former Prosecutor General Yoon, Seong clarified that Kim did not oppose the disciplinary action itself but raised concerns about procedural flaws. He also mentioned that Kim expressed dissent during the prosecution of the Jeong Jin-woong assault case and was not involved in the refusal to conduct a forensic examination of a mobile phone in the Channel A case.
President Yoon has also directly addressed the controversy surrounding Kim. On September 30, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Kim's actions are not pro-Yoon but rather reflect a stance against Yoon, a fact already confirmed by media reports, indicating his intention to maintain the nomination.
In the early hours of the following day, he remarked, "To say that we should not appoint a former prosecutor as the head of an important investigative agency simply because they are a former prosecutor is tantamount to undermining the agency itself." This underscores the importance of not excluding qualified individuals based solely on their prosecutorial background.
This decision reflects a judgment that delaying the appointment of the inaugural chief would hinder the early establishment of the new investigative agency. Seong emphasized in the previous briefing that the agency must begin its investigative functions immediately after its launch, necessitating a comprehensive evaluation of the chief's investigative and leadership capabilities.
However, dissent within the ruling party persists. Figures such as Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae and Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min continue to criticize Kim's nomination. Conversely, Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok defended the president's response, stating that a clear explanation is needed regarding the allegations against Kim, while Kim Young-jin, the chair of the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee, expressed that the criticism and evaluation of the nominee are excessive.
With the president's approval, the appointment process is set to accelerate, but the upcoming National Assembly confirmation hearing is expected to spark debates over Kim's past investigations, prosecution processes, and his qualifications as the first head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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