Presidential Office Spokesperson Kim Nam-joon said on the 15th that there seem to be aspects that are not factual regarding the controversy over the government bill to establish the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (Jung Sucheong) and the Public Prosecution Office, dubbed the revival of prosecutorial power. As the government has given advance notice of legislation that would place investigation judicial officers with attorney qualifications at the agency, hard-liners in the ruling party are fiercely opposing it, saying Bong Uk, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs and a former prosecutor, led a plan to create a second special investigations division of the prosecution.
Appearing on MBC radio that day, the Spokesperson said, the president's will for prosecution reform is clear. There is no need to doubt it. Forces aligned with the Rebuilding Korea Party have been pointing to Senior Secretary Bong as the author of a position paper to structure the agency with a dual system of investigation judicial officers and specialized investigators, raising calls for accountability. On this, the Spokesperson said, it is not possible to know the source of the document, and answered, as far as I know, some parts are not actually the position of the senior secretary for civil affairs, and some parts are a bit different from the facts.
On the intensifying criticism within the ruling party, the Spokesperson said, we are all considering reform plans with no risk, adding, it is a process of reflecting as many opinions as possible through deliberation and finding a risk-free approach. Earlier, on the 13th, the president instructed regarding prosecution reform and supplementary investigation authority, sufficient discussion and deliberation should be conducted within the party, and the government should collect those opinions. Referring to this, the Spokesperson also said, is it not the case that the person who has suffered all sorts of oppression and harm from the prosecution is President Lee Jae-myung.
Regarding the confirmation hearing scheduled for the 19th for Minister of Planning and Budget nominee Lee Hye-hoon, the Spokesperson said, the presidential office is well aware of and closely watching the situation in which various issues are emerging, adding, however, we believe the nominee should offer an explanation to the public so that the public can make a judgment. Asked whether there is a possibility of withdrawing the nomination on grounds of violations of statutory law, the Spokesperson said, since we nominated the candidate, it seems necessary to leave room for the nominee to offer an explanation to the public, adding, through the hearing process we will likely be able to gauge public opinion.