Cheong Wa Dae fires back at Rebuilding Korea Party, citing Cho Kuk's own words on supplementary investigation powers

Cheong Wa Dae fired back at the Rebuilding Korea Party Monday after the party pushed back against President Lee Jae Myung's remarks on two central issues in the prosecution reform debate — supplementary investigation powers and the jurisdiction of a proposed Serious Crimes Investigation Agency — citing the party's own leader's past statements to rebuff the criticism.

The presidential office issued a notice Monday under its spokesperson's office, saying that Cho Kuk, director of the party's Innovation Policy Research Institute, had himself stated on the YouTube channel "Jang Yun-seon's Chwijaepyeonuijeom" on Aug. 29 last year that he supported allowing supplementary investigations under certain conditions.

On the question of which ministry the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency should fall under, Cheong Wa Dae also noted that the party had initially called for placing the agency under the Ministry of Justice before later changing its official position to put it under the Ministry of Interior and Safety.

"The Rebuilding Korea Party has itself acknowledged that the substantive content of its prosecution reform proposals has changed in response to circumstances," the presidential office said. "The detailed design of prosecution reform has been adjusted as discussions have progressed and conditions have changed."

The office added that President Lee's post on X was meant to convey that the overarching goal of prosecution reform — the irreversible transformation of the prosecution as an institution — had been achieved and had never wavered since his presidential campaign pledge. "We ask that, rather than fixating on minor differences, the party join us in completing the reform that has already been set irreversibly in motion," it said.

The dispute began with a post Lee published on X that day. In it, he wrote that most advocates of prosecution reform, including the Rebuilding Korea Party, had called for placing a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency in charge of investigations and a separate Public Prosecution Office in charge of indictments, both under the Ministry of Justice — and that this had come alongside proposals to grant the Public Prosecution Office supplementary investigation powers.

Park Byeong-eon, a senior spokesperson for the Rebuilding Korea Party, issued a statement pushing back, saying the party had introduced legislation in 2024 to establish both a Public Prosecution Office and a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Justice but had later revised its official position to place the investigation agency under the Ministry of Interior and Safety. He also said the authority the party had sought for the Public Prosecution Office was not "supplementary investigation powers" but rather "the right to request supplementary investigations" — a legally distinct concept.