Lee on Serious Crimes Investigation Agency chief attending Cabinet meeting: “Normalizing the abnormal ... Come once a month”

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung stressed the case for attending Cabinet meetings on the 27th, saying the controversy over the attendance of heads of investigative agencies, including the head of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, was “part of normalizing the abnormal.” However, saying attendance should not interfere with their work, he urged the agency chief to attend voluntarily: “Come about once a month.”
At a Cabinet meeting he chaired at Cheong Wa Dae that day, President Lee said, “Under the Constitution and the law, all ministries, agencies and central administrative bodies are directly directed and supervised by the President, and are also directed and supervised by the Prime Minister in accordance with the President’s direction.”
Addressing concerns that the attendance of heads of investigative agencies at Cabinet meetings could undermine political neutrality, he asked, “What does whether they attend these public meetings or not have to do with political neutrality?”
He went on to stress, “Attending these public meetings as a legal obligation has no connection whatsoever to political neutrality. Rather, in a setting like this, we should share our views on the government’s policy priorities, direction and values, and reflect them in the government work each of us is responsible for.”
President Lee explained, “It’s better to share these things at public meetings like this; doing it separately instead is stranger,” adding, “This too is part of normalizing the abnormal.”
He said, “When people are exposed to abnormality for so long, they can mistake it for normality, and often even understand what is normal as abnormal,” adding, “Correcting such bad practices or, in a sense, these kinds of exemptions is also reform and progress.”
However, President Lee said, “Just because I tell you to attend, there’s no need to come no matter what, even if you have other things to do. Cabinet members have no choice but to attend as required for decision-making, but those from commissions, offices and agencies don’t have to come if they’re busy.”
Referring in particular to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, whose staffing and facilities are not yet adequately in place, he said, “If it’s not absolutely necessary, you don’t have to come. But come about once a month. You can decide for yourselves, and the same goes for other agencies.”
President Lee again called on the heads of investigative agencies, including the National Police Agency, the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, to ensure fairness in law enforcement and political neutrality.
President Lee said, “The investigative agencies within this administration, too, must exercise this authority with thorough fairness and transparency, and in full compliance with legal procedures. They must, of course, be politically neutral. But our people have a very deep distrust on that score.”
He also stressed, “Whether someone is on our side or your side, whether they’re powerful or powerless, famous or not, rich or not, have a lawyer or not, or have a powerful lawyer or a powerless one—none of that must ever affect how a case is handled.”
He urged them, “I ask you to handle as promptly and rigorously as possible cases that the public has doubts about, cases that cause significant harm to the public, or matters with a strong general deterrent effect on society.”

[email protected] Choi Jong-geun, Seong Seok-woo Reporter