Kim Yong-min says he didn't enter politics 'to seek positions,' pushing back against interpretation of Lee's post

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Yong-min said Sunday that he entered politics to accomplish goals he believed in, not to seek positions.

"Even now, from this more-than-I-deserve position as a National Assembly member, I am simply marching alongside my comrades toward prosecutorial and judicial reform to build a fairer society," Kim wrote on Facebook. "Even if I lose even that authority, I will keep moving forward."

His remarks were widely interpreted as a rebuttal to a post by President Lee Jae Myung on X, formerly Twitter.

In a post on X on Friday, Lee wrote that while "pure radicalism may be a problem in itself, it is a bigger problem when someone who lacks the ability demands a high position, tries to bend personnel decisions and national policy to their own will, and then — when that doesn't work out — uses radical reform as a pretext to attack from within."

The remarks were seen as a reference to hard-liners within the party who have opposed the appointment of Kim Ji-yong as head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.

Kim had earlier warned that if a former prosecutor were appointed to lead the agency and its senior ranks were filled with former prosecutors, the investigation and indictment functions could effectively be merged through personnel ties with the Prosecution Service.