Lee: "Era of Political Prosecution Ends Tomorrow... Police to Be Reformed So Case Coverups Are Unthinkable"

President Lee Presides Over Chief Presidential Secretary Meeting on October 1

"Prosecutorial Reform Comes to Fruition Under the People’s Sovereignty Government"

Calls for Stronger Reforms as Police Authority Grows

"Case Concealment an

President Lee Jae-myung stated that as the Prosecution Office and the Central Investigation Agency are set to be launched, "The era in which the prosecution monopolized investigation and indictment, wielding unchecked power—and, at its worst, served as political prosecutors to eliminate and oppress rivals—is coming to an end."

At the 48th senior secretaries' meeting held at the Blue House on October 1, 2026, President Lee made these remarks, adding, "A new criminal justice system based on the principle of checks and balances is beginning." He went on to say, "What was sown during the Participatory Government and shaped under the Moon Jae-in administration—prosecution reform—has finally come to fruition under our government run on the principle of popular sovereignty."

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the senior secretaries' meeting held at the Blue House on October 1, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee continued, "This marks a historic step towards protecting our people from illegality and injustice and providing even stronger safeguards for human rights," emphasizing, "Following the civilian control of the military and depoliticization of intelligence agencies, this will be recorded as a new chapter in the history of reforming Korea's power institutions."

Furthermore, President Lee declared, "Police reform will also be an essential government agenda moving forward." He stated, "Just as important as creating systems is ensuring they take root in everyday life and truly improve the lives of our people, maintaining a just social order. In the process of establishing the new system, we will make every effort to ensure there are no unfortunate victims, nor any lapses in investigative capacity, fairness, or protection of victims."

President Lee also stressed, "We must accelerate the necessary follow-up measures to ensure the prompt stabilization of the new organizations," adding, "The police now have a heavier responsibility than ever before. As their powers have increased, it is essential that both external oversight and internal self-discipline are enforced more rigorously." He continued, "In particular, strong and effective reform measures are needed, so that issues our people worry about such as the concealment of cases or investigative misconduct are not even imaginable."

President Lee pledged, "Prosecution reform, which is being launched through the longstanding aspirations and participation of the people, is a historic mission to realize irreversible prosecution reform. Our government based on popular sovereignty will unwaveringly see this through, while also accelerating broad reforms centered on the three core social policies."

Meanwhile, President Lee analyzed that the record-low number of workplace accident deaths in the first half of this year, alongside the declining trend in suicide deaths, "demonstrate that the government's policy goals are resulting in tangible changes on the ground."

However, President Lee stated, "Unfortunately, due to the impact of academic stress, the suicide rate among adolescents remains stubbornly high, which weighs heavily on my heart." He instructed that "We must carefully review and supplement all related policy measures to ensure that precious achievements like the reduction in workplace accident and suicide deaths can extend to an actual decrease in adolescent suicides, various types of accidental deaths, solitary deaths, and crime-related deaths."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.