Lee says dropping oversight of new investigative agency would be impeachable offense

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday sharply criticized calls to bar the head of the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency from Cabinet meetings, saying that abandoning oversight of the agency would violate the Constitution and the Government Organization Act — and would itself constitute grounds for impeachment.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Lee said the Constitution and the Government Organization Act explicitly require all government ministries and agencies — including the prosecution service, the Korea Meteorological Administration and the National Fire Agency — to operate under the direction and supervision of the president and the prime minister. "Directing and supervising state affairs is both the president's right and responsibility," he said.

He went on to say that relinquishing oversight of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency would violate the Constitution and the Government Organization Act and amount to an impeachable offense. "It would also be a criminal act of dereliction of duty," he added.

Turning to those who argue the agency chief should not attend Cabinet meetings, Lee said, "Are they telling me to violate the Constitution and the law by refusing to oversee the agency?" He also asked, "Are they saying I should not exercise oversight in an open meeting but do it behind closed doors in secret?"

He said the argument that excluding the agency from open meetings would safeguard political neutrality was "completely illogical."

Lee also explained why he had cited a legal analysis by the AI service Gemini on Wednesday. "I cited Gemini not because I did not know the answer, but to let people feel just how elementary, factually wrong and low-level that argument was," he said.

Lee said the insistence that the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency chief be kept out of open Cabinet meetings was "an absurd claim that runs counter to the Constitution, the law and common sense."