New era begins as serious crimes agency, prosecution office open; Lee sends hearing request for first chief to Assembly

South Korea on Friday ushered in a new era of criminal justice as the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency officially opened their doors, ending 78 years of the prosecution system as it had existed.

The sweeping overhaul of the country's criminal justice framework reflects President Lee Jae Myung's drive to reform the prosecution service.

On the same day the agency opened, Lee sent to the National Assembly a request for a confirmation hearing for Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for the agency's inaugural chief.

Cheong Wa Dae Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Friday morning that Lee had approved the confirmation hearing request for Kim on Thursday.

The move came 25 days after Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung formally recommended Kim's appointment on Sept. 7, meaning the confirmation hearing process was set in motion on the very day the agency opened.

Lee approved the request late Thursday night, and it was transmitted to the National Assembly around 9 a.m. Friday.

Under revised statutes — including the amended Code of Criminal Procedure, the Prosecution Office Act and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency Act — the Prosecution Office will handle indictments and the maintenance of charges, while the agency will investigate seven categories of serious crimes.

Most investigations will be handled by police, with some assigned to special judicial police officers and the most serious cases going to the agency.

The road to opening the agency, which is set to bring the most significant structural change to South Korea's criminal justice system in decades, was not without turbulence — particularly over the selection of its first chief.

The confirmation hearing process for Kim, a former prosecutor, had been expected to proceed smoothly, but it hit a snag when controversy erupted over allegations that he had been close to former President Yoon Suk-yeol — a label critics used to question his suitability for the role.

Cheong Wa Dae launched an additional vetting process, and as the appointment procedure dragged on, concerns grew about the agency's ability to get off to a stable start.

Amid the controversy, Lee addressed the allegations directly on Wednesday, saying media reports had already confirmed that Kim's record showed not pro-Yoon, but — if anything — anti-Yoon conduct, signaling that the appointment would move forward.

Cheong Wa Dae Communications Secretary Seong Ki-hong, appearing on SBS Radio on Friday, said thorough vetting had found the political claim that Kim was a pro-Yoon prosecutor to be entirely without basis. "We felt it was necessary to quickly put an end to this unproductive controversy and build the new criminal justice framework as soon as possible," Seong said. "With the agency launching without a chief in place, we are asking the Assembly to proceed with the confirmation hearing for a candidate who has no disqualifying flaws."

Whether the discord within the ruling camp over Kim's appointment has been fully put to rest remains to be seen. In that regard, a dinner Lee hosted for former Democratic Party Chairman Jung Chung-rae at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday drew attention.

A ruling camp source said the sequence of events — Lee dining with Jung on Thursday before approving the confirmation hearing request — offered a telling hint. "The intent appears to be to show he is reaching out to hardliners within the Democratic Party in order to quiet the controversy," the source said.

One Democratic Party lawmaker said the confirmation hearing should still involve rigorous scrutiny and an opportunity for Kim to make his case, but added: "We will not see any more discord or signs of internal splits within the camp."