▲ President Lee Jae Myung delivers an address during a ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the March 15 democracy movement in the southeastern city of Changwon on March 15, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Lee-prosecution reform

Lee reaffirms commitment to measured prosecution reform

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to reform the prosecution service by separating its investigative and indictment powers, while cautioning against excessive measures that could undermine the reform effort.

Lee made the remarks a day after voicing clear opposition to hard-line calls within the ruling Democratic Party (DP) for sweeping changes, including renaming the prosecutor general as the "chief of the indictment agency" and opposing the government's proposal to allow the agency to request further investigations from police or conduct limited probes when necessary.

"The government will firmly push for the separation of investigation and indictment and the exclusion of prosecutors from investigative authority," Lee wrote on the social media platform X. "For any reason whatsoever, unnecessary and excessive measures that could impede the reform should not be allowed."

The remarks came as the DP is pushing to pass key prosecution reform bills to establish a serious crimes investigation agency and an indictment agency during a plenary session this week.

The bills are follow-up measures to a government reorganization law that will abolish the existing prosecution service structure in October and outline the framework for launching the new agencies in the same month.

Lee said the bills, drafted through consultations between the government and the DP, could still be revised if necessary to ensure prosecutors are fully excluded from investigations and focus solely on indictment.

"I instructed the government to remove provisions in the proposal that could allow prosecutors to instruct special judicial police or leave room for prosecutors' interference with ongoing investigations," he said.

Special judicial police refer to government officials with expertise in specific fields granted authority to investigate under the direction of prosecutors.

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