President Lee Jae-myung on the 1st called for sweeping police reform, saying the force now carries greater responsibility under a restructured criminal justice system, a day before the launch of the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
Speaking at a meeting of senior secretaries at the Blue House, Lee said the two agencies would formally begin operations the following day. "The flawed era in which prosecutors monopolized both investigation and indictment, wielded unchecked power and acted as a political prosecution service aimed at removing and suppressing political opponents is coming to an end, and a new criminal justice system based on the principle of checks and balances is beginning," he said.
"Prosecution reform, whose seeds were sown under the Participatory Government and whose framework was laid under the Moon Jae-in administration, is bearing fruit under the People's Sovereignty Government," he said. "Following the civilianization of the military and the depoliticization of intelligence agencies, this will be recorded as a new chapter in the history of reforming South Korea's power institutions."
He added, however, that "with this redistribution of authority, police reform will become a major task for our government going forward." He stressed that "the responsibility of the police has become heavier than ever. As their authority grows, external oversight and internal self-correction must be carried out rigorously." He also urged that "strong and substantive reform measures are needed, so that the burying of cases or corruption in investigations — the very things the public worries about — become unthinkable."
Lee pledged that "the People's Sovereignty Government will unwaveringly fulfill the historic calling of irreversible prosecution reform and will also accelerate reform across society, centered on the three core social policies."
Turning to declining numbers of deaths from industrial accidents and suicide, Lee said the figures showed "that our government's top policy goal of saving lives is translating into concrete change on the ground." Still, he said, "regrettably, the youth suicide rate has barely declined, partly because of academic stress, and that weighs heavily on me."
He called for broader measures, saying the gains in reducing industrial accident deaths and overall suicides must "lead to real reductions in youth suicide, deaths from various disasters, lonely deaths and deaths from crime." He added that "because these problems involve a complex tangle of issues including education, jobs, income, welfare, public safety and culture, they require a comprehensive approach that goes beyond the silos between ministries."
Marking one year since the fire at the National Information Resources Service, Lee said "such a backward, man-made disaster must never be repeated." He called for authorities to "accelerate the establishment of redundancy systems for core information systems at a fundamental level, and to carefully prepare safety measures for every kind of crisis situation."
