Cheong Wa Dae: "Cho Kuk has previously stated his position that supplementary investigation authority should be recognized... We hope he will join us in completing prosecution reform"

[Financial News] Cheong Wa Dae issued a counter-rebuttal against the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), which had refuted President Lee Jae Myung's social media post on prosecution reform. Cheong Wa Dae said, "Rather than quibbling over minor differences, we ask you to join us in bringing the prosecution reform, which is already irreversibly underway, to a high-quality completion so that it can address even the finer details of people's lives and livelihoods."
In a media notice issued late on the night of the 5th, the Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson's office addressed the RKP's rebuttal of content concerning supplementary investigation authority in President Lee Jae Myung's X post. It explained, "Cho Kuk, former leader of the RKP, appeared on 'Jang Yun-sun's Chwijae Pyeonuijeom' on August 29, 2025, as head of the RKP's Institute for Innovation Policy and personally stated, with conditions attached, that he held 'the position that supplementary investigations should be recognized.'"
It added, "The RKP itself has said that it has changed the substantive content of its prosecution reform plan according to circumstances and realities. Its position on supplementary investigation authority differs from the position it held on August 29, 2025. In the case of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (SCIA), the party previously argued that it should be placed under the Ministry of Justice but later changed its official position to place it under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS). Accordingly, the detailed design of prosecution reform has been adjusted throughout the discussions and in response to changing circumstances."
The office emphasized that the point President Lee Jae Myung made in his social media posts was that the broad direction of prosecution reform had not changed. The Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson's office said, "President Lee Jae Myung's post on X was intended to bring about an irreversible transformation of the prosecution organization in line with the broader purpose and direction of prosecution reform. That goal was achieved, and this commitment has never changed since the presidential campaign pledges."
It also stated, "The RKP has likewise acknowledged that it has repeatedly changed its position on details such as supplementary investigation authority, making clear that the Lee Jae Myung administration pursued an outcome far more advanced than the prosecution reform initially under discussion."
Earlier, President Lee Jae Myung posted a series of messages on X concerning prosecution reform, stating, "The RKP, as well as most advocates of prosecution reform, called for establishing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency in charge of investigations and the Public Prosecution Office in charge of indictments within the Ministry of Justice," and adding, "along with the argument that the Public Prosecution Office should be granted supplementary investigation authority."
He continued, "However, this administration went a step further by separating investigations and indictments between the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office, while assigning them separately to the Ministry of Justice and the MOIS," adding, "In this process, the call to abolish supplementary investigation authority, which represented a change in these people's position, was also carried through."
Park Byeong-eon, a senior spokesperson for the RKP, countered in a media notice that the party had proposed a bill in 2024 to establish the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Justice. He said the party later went through a process of changing its official position to place the Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the MOIS and had advocated the right to request a supplementary investigation, not supplementary investigation authority.
Cheong Wa Dae is understood to have cited Cho Kuk's past remarks to correct some factual details while emphasizing that the focus was on improving the reforms' substantive completeness rather than on whether specific aspects of the reform had changed.
[email protected] Choi Jong-geun Reporter