Legal and Prosecution Reform Committee Appoints 5 Additional Members

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The Ministry of Justice's Justice and Prosecution Reform Committee (Chairman Kim Nam-jun) has appointed five additional internal and external members.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Justice announced that five internal and external experts with extensive knowledge and experience in the justice and prosecution fields, as well as a reformist mindset, have newly joined the Reform Committee as members.

Among the external experts, four new appointees include attorney Kim Kang-san, a former chief judge; attorney Kim Ji-mi, chairperson of the Judicial Committee of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (Minbyun); Professor Han Young-sun of the Department of Police Administration at Kyonggi University; and Kim Dae-geun, head of the Corruption and Economic Crime Research Office at the Korea Institute of Criminology. Internally, one prosecutor has joined the Reform Committee. With this addition, the total number of committee members has reached 17.

The second-term Reform Committee, launched last September with 16 internal and external experts from academia, media, legal circles, and civic groups, has been operating with 12 members after four members, including former judge Lee Tan-hee and attorney Kim Yong-min, resigned to run in the April 15 general election as members of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The Ministry of Justice stated, "By appointing a former chief judge well-versed in trial practice and a reformist attorney who has long served as a public defender and led judicial reform, we have strengthened our capacity to identify reform tasks and improve systems across the judiciary."

It also emphasized, "By appointing a university professor who retired from public office as a juvenile detention center director and has devoted himself to juvenile offender rehabilitation and crime prevention research, as well as the head of the Korea Institute of Criminology's research office with deep expertise in criminal policy, we have reinforced experts in juvenile and correctional justice administration."

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae plans to attend the new member appointment ceremony held at 1:40 p.m. at the Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province. The committee will hold its 25th meeting thereafter.

The Reform Committee has held regular weekly meetings to discuss current issues related to prosecution reform. On the 23rd, it recommended that detainees and prisoners be allowed to wear civilian clothes instead of prison uniforms during investigations and trials in principle. So far, the committee has issued a total of 15 recommendations.

A Ministry of Justice official stated, "We will continue to actively support the activities of the Justice and Prosecution Reform Committee and respect its recommendations to ensure that justice and prosecution reforms for the people are fully accomplished."

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