President requests confirmation hearing for nominee to head new investigation agency

President Lee Jae Myung has approved a request for a parliamentary confirmation hearing for his nominee to head the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA), according to a report by The Korea Times. The SCIA, set to launch later in the day, will take over the prosecutors' functions of investigating serious crimes as part of the Lee administration's prosecution reform.

Kim Ji-yong, the nominee, was nominated by the interior minister earlier this month, but suspicions have arisen within the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, including allegations that Kim had once opposed prosecution reform. The presidential office stated that they have carried out an additional verification process on Kim, which found his nomination to be in order.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.