First Cabinet Meeting Attendance Draws Backlash: "Investigate Cheong Wa Dae and Ruling Party First"

[Anchor]

Kim Ji-yong, head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, attended a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae for the first time. The People Power Party has long criticized that an investigative agency chief attending Cabinet meetings undermines investigative independence, and following his attendance yesterday (October 20), raised its voice demanding that the agency properly investigate crimes involving the ruling party first.

Reporter Kim Jin-u reports.

[Reporter]

A Cabinet meeting was held yesterday morning at Cheong Wa Dae, presided over by President Lee Jae-myung.

Since the official launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency on October 2, an acting head had attended twice, but yesterday, Kim Ji-yong, the inaugural chief who recently received his appointment certificate, attended the meeting.

This marks the first time since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration that the official head of an investigative agency has attended a Cabinet meeting.

President Lee urged Chief Kim to "dispel the public's concerns and anxieties regarding prosecution reform."

[President Lee Jae-myung: Please prove to the public the raison d'être and necessity of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency by fully mobilizing all investigative capabilities to strictly crack down without distinction of friend or foe and without any sacred cows.]

[Kim Ji-yong / Head of Serious Crimes Investigation Agency: I will do my utmost to successfully establish the agency, complete prosecution reform, and protect the rights and interests of the public. Thank you.]

However, regarding an investigative agency chief's attendance at Cabinet meetings, the opposition bloc has criticized that it undermines political neutrality and investigative independence, pointing out that prosecutors general in the past did not attend either.

In response, President Lee pushed back at a Cabinet meeting on October 13, stating that "state administration naturally falls under the jurisdiction of the president and the prime minister," and arguing there is no issue as they do not intervene in individual cases.

Nonetheless, controversy has continued, with the civic group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy issuing a statement on October 16 saying that regular attendance at Cabinet meetings by heads of related agencies, including the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Agency, "should be refrained from and restrained."

While Chief Kim pledged on his way to work on October 19 to "eliminate the politicization of investigations," People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok demanded that matters concerning Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party be investigated properly first, saying, "Before the ink on his appointment letter is even dry, Chief Kim attended a Cabinet meeting first, so far from eradicating the 'politicization of investigations,' politics is on the verge of becoming 'investigative.'"

(Video by Jeong Sang-bo | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra | Graphics by Choi Jae-young)

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