AI calls arguments against prosecution chiefs attending Cabinet meetings 'unconstitutional'

President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday cited a legal analysis by AI service Gemini to push back against calls to bar the heads of the newly created Prosecution Service and Serious Crime Investigation Agency from attending Cabinet meetings, saying such arguments amounted to an "unconstitutional absurdity."

Lee posted on X, formerly Twitter, under the title "I asked Gemini," sharing the AI's response, which concluded that arguments denying the two agency chiefs seats at Cabinet meetings were "unconstitutional" under Article 11 of the Government Organization Act.

According to the post Lee shared, Gemini said the demand to exclude the heads of the Prosecution Service and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency from Cabinet meetings was "a sophistry that directly negates the president's administrative supervisory authority and the government's chain of command as established by the Constitution and the Government Organization Act."

The AI cited Article 66, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution — which states that executive power belongs to the government headed by the president — and Article 11 of the Government Organization Act, which grants the president, as head of government, the authority to direct and supervise all heads of central administrative agencies and to suspend or revoke orders or dispositions found to be unlawful or unjust.

Gemini also cited Article 2 and Article 7, Paragraph 4 of the Government Organization Act, noting that affiliated agencies are clearly central administrative agencies falling under the president's direct chain of command through the relevant minister and the prime minister. It further noted that Article 12, Paragraph 4 of the same act and Article 8 of the Cabinet Meeting Regulations legally guarantee that heads of key central administrative agencies designated by the prime minister may attend Cabinet meetings and speak on matters within their jurisdiction.

The AI also said that under Article 11, Paragraph 1 of the Government Organization Act, the president holds both the constitutional duty and the legal authority to direct and supervise all heads of central administrative agencies, and that the Prosecution Service and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency — established through the restructuring of the prosecution — are likewise central administrative agencies under the president's direction and supervision.

The post also took sharp aim at the logical flaws in the exclusion argument. It said the claim that the agency chiefs should be kept out of Cabinet meetings even while subject to presidential direction and supervision was "a clear contradiction," adding that heads of agencies under presidential oversight should attend the Cabinet — the Constitution's highest policy deliberation body — to coordinate national affairs and discuss their work transparently, in keeping with the principle of constitutional accountability.

"Blocking this would amount to nothing more than a dangerous idea to neutralize the president's legally guaranteed administrative supervisory authority and place investigative and prosecutorial agencies in an extraterritorial sanctuary beyond democratic control," the post said.