President Lee Digs In as His Own Party Splits Over Pick to Lead New Investigation Agency

A nomination meant to christen South Korea's newest law enforcement body has instead opened a visible rift inside President Lee Jae-myung's own political camp, pitting the president against allies who argue his choice undercuts the reform the agency was created to represent.

At the center of the dispute is Kim Ji-yong, a former prosecutor whom Lee named on September 8 as his nominee to serve as the first chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, a body stood up to take on major criminal investigations as part of a broader push to rework the power of the prosecution.

Allies question the choice

The objections have come from inside the president's own political family rather than from the opposition. Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae has been among the most vocal, pointing to Kim's record during his years as a prosecutor and arguing he took part in collective action by prosecutors opposing disciplinary steps once taken against former President Yoon Suk Yeol, when Yoon headed the prosecution.

Lawmaker Kim Yong-min of the Democratic Party and Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party have raised similar concerns, while Lim Eun-jung, who heads the agency's Gwangju branch, has gone further, alleging that Kim failed to act on requests to investigate sexual assault allegations involving a fellow prosecutor.

Lee pushes back on his own side

The president has stood by his nominee, pointing to Kim's investigative record and saying a further review turned up no problem with the selection. Lee cast the internal dissent in sharper terms, suggesting that some of the loudest critics were chasing personal attention rather than genuine reform, and insisting that reform should be the goal itself rather than a label used to draw notice.

A party trying to paper over the crack

With the dispute playing out in public, Democratic Party chairman Kim Min-seok has urged members to settle their differences through internal discussion rather than continued public sparring, a sign of how uncomfortable the episode has become for a party eager to present the new agency as a clean break from the old prosecutorial order.

As of now the standoff remains unresolved, leaving the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency in the unusual position of starting its life under a cloud cast not by its political opponents, but by members of the very coalition that built it.