Politics · South Korea · 12 hrs ago
South Korea’s Major Crimes Agency Chief Orders Team to Speed Setup
Kim Ji-yong began work as the first chief of South Korea’s Major Crimes Investigation Agency on Oct.
16.
The agency, which launched on Oct.
2, had been without a chief for 14 days.
Kim ordered a task force to speed the agency’s setup, including staffing, facilities, computer systems and investigation rules.
The agency is preparing to investigate major crimes under a new system that separates investigations from prosecutions, a change that has drawn both concern and support.
President Lee Jae Myung called for swift, serious and impartial investigations into corruption and other major crimes, saying the agency should prove its value through results.
The agency is expected to choose its first case soon, though no case has been announced; large-scale economic crime is one possibility mentioned.
A senior regional agency official who has publicly criticized Kim said she would continue to speak up if she believes he makes mistakes.
South Korea’s Major Crimes Investigation Agency chief Kim Ji-yong ordered a task force to speed the agency’s setup on his first day at work.
The task force is to prepare staffing, facilities and a system for responding to major crimes.
Kim urged investigators to work quickly to produce visible results.
President Lee Jae-myung called for swift, impartial investigations and said the agency should prove its value through results.
The agency, launched on October 2, had been without a chief for 14 days before Kim began work.
- Who
- Kim Ji-yong, chief of South Korea’s Major Crimes Investigation Agency, ordered the task force.
- What
- He directed the agency to form a task force to speed its setup.
- When
- October 16, 2026, on Kim’s first day at work.
- Where
- The agency’s headquarters in Jung District, Seoul.
- Why
- The team is to prepare the agency’s staffing, facilities and major-crime response system before full investigations begin.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Major Crimes Investigation Agency was launched.
Kim Ji-yong began work as chief, ending the 14-day vacancy in the agency’s top post.
Kim ordered the creation of a task force to speed the agency’s setup.
- Agency
- Major Crimes Investigation Agency (중수청)
- Chief
- Kim Ji-yong
- Task force
- Early Setup Task Force
- First day at work
- October 16, 2026
- Headquarters
- Jung District, Seoul
3 sources
What people are saying
Push ahead with work at a brisk pace so that we can achieve visible results quickly.
I hope you will investigate major crimes swiftly and rigorously, impartially and fairly, with a sense of historical responsibility and firm courage, without distinguishing friend from foe.
I hope you will dispel public distrust and concern and prove the agency’s raison d’être and necessity through performance and results.
If Chief Kim does something wrong, I am prepared not to hold back criticism and frank advice.