President Lee: "Relinquishing Command and Supervision of Serious Crime Agency Is Grounds for Impeachment"

[Anchor]

Amid the controversy over the heads of investigative agencies attending Cabinet meetings, President Lee Jae-myung has continued to express a firm stance day after day. He stated that for a president to relinquish command and supervision over the Serious Crime Investigation Agency would be a violation of the law constituting grounds for impeachment and dereliction of duty, asking whether critics expect him to conduct command and supervision behind closed doors in secret.

Kang Chungwan reports.

[Reporter]

President Lee wrote on social media today (October 22), "The Constitution and the Government Organization Act clearly stipulate that all ministries and agencies, whether the Prosecution Agency or the Korea Meteorological Administration, are subject to the command and supervision of the president and prime minister." He added, "The president's command and supervision over state affairs is an authority as well as a responsibility."

He continued, "Giving up command and supervision over the Serious Crime Investigation Agency violates the Constitution and the Government Organization Act, which constitutes grounds for impeachment," and is "a crime subject to criminal punishment for dereliction of duty." He then questioned, "Are they telling me to violate the Constitution and laws by not directing and supervising the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, or to conduct command and supervision behind closed doors in secret rather than in open meetings?"

[President Lee Jae-myung (Cabinet meeting on October 13): "Ministers can also exercise command. It is not as if we would ever do such a thing (direct investigations into individual cases)...."]

This was a rebuttal to criticism from the conservative opposition and critics, who have argued that "the attendance of figures such as the head of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency at Cabinet meetings undermines political neutrality and investigative independence" and that "the president is effectively directing investigations."

Seong Gi-hong, Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Communication at Cheong Wa Dae, also said at a briefing today, "I would like to ask whether the prosecution was truly politically independent and not a 'political prosecution' back when the Prosecutor General did not attend Cabinet meetings," adding that judging the neutrality of investigative agencies solely by their attendance at Cabinet meetings is an excessive concern.

The People Power Party countered President Lee's position that giving up command and supervision constitutes dereliction of duty, calling it an "overt declaration of intent to direct investigations" and asking whether former presidents refrained from having the Prosecutor General attend Cabinet meetings because they were ignorant of the Constitution and the law.

The party also claimed that President Lee is attempting to seize control of investigative agencies to dismiss the indictments in his own trials.

Video by Jeong Sang-bo and Yoon Hyeong | Video editing by Nam Il | Design by Lim Chan-hyeok
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.