Kim Yong-min Counters Lee: "I Never Suggested Placing the Serious Crime Investigation Agency Under the Ministry of Justice"

Kim Yong-min, a hardline prosecution reform advocate from the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 5th, "I have never proposed a plan to place the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (SCIA) under the Ministry of Justice."
This is interpreted as a rebuttal to President Lee Jae-myung's remarks that "most proponents of prosecution reform, including the Rebuilding Korea Party, suggested placing the SCIA and the Prosecution Office within the Ministry of Justice."
Through his Facebook page on this day, Rep. Kim stated, "The complete separation of investigation and prosecution, along with mutual checks and balances, is the key mechanism for successful (prosecution) reform."
Rep. Kim explained, "In the SCIA Act proposed in 2021, the SCIA was designed as an independent investigative agency, not as an entity under the Ministry of Justice." He added, "In an interview last March, immediately following the internal unrest, I even suggested moving the SCIA to the Prime Minister's Office, maintaining the position that it could absolutely not be placed under the Ministry of Justice."
Furthermore, regarding President Lee's point that Kim "also argued for granting supplementary investigation powers to the Prosecution Office," Rep. Kim emphasized, "I have never proposed a plan to leave supplementary investigation powers to (Prosecution Office) prosecutors." He stressed, "The Prosecution Office Act, first proposed in 2020, specified that prosecutors may only request supplementary investigations."