President Lee: "Approach Violent Crime with the Resolve to Declare War"

Lee chairs pan-government meeting on "ultra-safe society"
"We must shift from responding after the fact to preventing crimes in advance"

President Lee Jae-myung said that, in response to a series of violent crimes, including relationship-based crimes and knife rampage incidents, "protecting the lives and safety of the people is the state's most fundamental duty," adding that "we must respond to violent crimes with the resolve to declare war on them."

At a meeting of the pan-government response team for an "ultra-safe society" held at Cheong Wa Dae on the morning of Oct. 23, President Lee said, "We can no longer stand by while people have to worry about their safety even in their daily lives." The meeting was convened to review government-wide measures to address recently occurring abnormal-motive and relationship-based crimes, as well as violent crimes targeting socially vulnerable people.

President Lee Jaemyung speaks at a government-wide response meeting on building an ultra-safe society at the Blue House on Oct. 23, 2026. Yonhap News.

At a senior secretaries' meeting on Oct. 15, President Lee had also said, "Public anxiety is very high as deaths and injuries caused by recent relationship-based crimes and violent crimes such as knife rampage incidents continue to occur," and instructed officials to "swiftly draw up extraordinary measures with the resolve to declare war on them." In response, Cheong Wa Dae, under the chairmanship of policy chief Ha Jun-kyung, and the government, under Prime Minister Han Seongsuk, each held meetings to develop measures to address violent crime. Today, officials will coordinate the detailed tasks of the "Everyone's Peace of Mind 365 Project," developed based on discussions to date.

President Lee said, "People's anxiety is growing as violent crimes continue to occur, ranging from crimes within intimate relationships, such as those between family members and romantic partners, to abnormal-motive crimes targeting random members of the public." He noted that "these crimes are a serious problem that threatens the safety not only of individual victims but of society as a whole." He added, "In particular, victims of relationship-based crimes are repeatedly exposed to ongoing threats or left without adequate protection even after reporting the danger."

President Lee went on to call for "a sweeping shift from responding after the fact to a preventive system, including establishing a system to detect early warning signs of danger," adding, "Based on a thorough analysis of whether there were ways to prevent crimes that have already occurred, we must establish measures to prevent recurrence and set and implement the principle of ensuring the public is protected from the risk of similar crimes."

President Lee also said, "I convened this meeting so that all relevant ministries could gather and discuss extraordinary measures in the face of a grave crisis." He stressed that "the pan-government action plan for an ultra-safe society to be discussed today is a starting point for creating a society where everyone can feel safe and secure in their daily lives." He added, "There must not be even the slightest gap in protecting the lives and safety of the people, and I hope today's discussions will lead to effective measures that people can see making a difference."

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