Lee Jae Myung lashes out at pro-government hardliners over prosecution reform

President Lee Jae Myung has expressed frustration with pro-government forces who questioned his commitment to prosecution reform and opposed his nomination of Kim Ji-yong to lead the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Lee wrote that while "pure radicalism" was itself a problem, a bigger concern was people "who lack the ability yet demand prominent positions, try to bend personnel decisions and national policy to their own will, and then — when that fails — invoke radical reform as a pretext to attack from within."

Lee shared the post alongside a media opinion piece by former Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon, who analyzed the factional divisions surrounding the Democratic Party of Korea's recent national convention.

Lee particularly highlighted a passage in which Cho wrote: "It is not that one strikes down a comrade for the sake of revolution — rather, striking down a comrade becomes the revolution itself. When fighters devoted body and soul to sacrificial struggle, they were pure in every sense. But once revolution becomes a system of power, the gaze of self-interest seeps in, and the dynamics of personal politics and group politics begin to operate."

Lee's message was widely interpreted as a rebuke of hardliners within his own camp who pushed back against government policy during the prosecution reform process.

The nomination of Kim Ji-yong to lead the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency drew public opposition from Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min and Gwangju District Serious Crimes Investigation Agency chief Lim Eun-jeong, among others.

Earlier, on Monday, Lee shared on X a video interview with Gangwon Province Governor Woo Sang-ho — a former Cheong Wa Dae political affairs secretary — in which Woo criticized writer Yu Si-min for claiming that "the president deceived the people." Lee wrote alongside the clip: "Prosecution reform is being carried out for the people, not to build the political legacy of specific individuals. It is even more wrong to dismiss or disparage others' efforts — or even call them an obstacle — in order to claim sole credit for achievements made through everyone's collective work."

Lee also warned that "using prosecution reform as a cover to manipulate personnel decisions and the specifics of investigations and indictments out of self-interest must not be allowed."