▲ Kim Ji-yong, nominee for the inaugural head of the planned Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, speaks to reporters at an annex building of the government complex in central Seoul, in this file photo from Sept. 14, 2026. (Yonhap)

(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks, background in last 2 paras)

SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung will soon ask the National Assembly to hold a confirmation hearing for his nominee for the inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA), a presidential official said Thursday.

Cheong Wa Dae will soon submit a request to the National Assembly for a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Kim Ji-yong, who has been nominated to head the new agency, presidential secretary for public relations Seong Ghi-hong said.

The decision was announced a day before the SCIA is set to launch, along with the Public Prosecution Service, as part of the Lee administration's prosecution reform aimed at stripping the prosecution of investigative rights, tasking them with only indicting and maintaining indictments against suspects.

The president nominated Kim early last month at the recommendation of the interior minister, but suspicions have since been raised within the ruling Democratic Party that Kim had once opposed prosecution reform.

Seong said that since the nomination, the presidential office has carried out an additional verification process, adding that its results showed the nomination should remain in place.

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