Appointment of Deputy Minister Gogi-Young Reflects President Moon's Intent, Emphasizing Dialogue and Persuasion Over Judicial Reform Conflict

"Rational Person... Evaluated as the Right Candidate to Promote Prosecution Reform"

Gogi-yeong, New Deputy Minister of Justice

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Hyungmin Kim] The newly appointed Deputy Minister of Justice, Ko Gi-young, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office (age 55, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 23), is predominantly regarded within the prosecution as "rational and stable."

This appointment is interpreted as reflecting the intentions of President Moon Jae-in and Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, who aim to focus on communication with the prosecution while preparing detailed measures for the judicial and prosecutorial reforms that have passed the critical midpoint.

Deputy Minister Ko will assist Minister Choo in preparing for the launch of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (Gongu-cheo) scheduled in about two months and will also work on follow-up measures for the adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution. It is expected that he will resolve issues through dialogue and persuasion rather than confrontation with Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl (age 60, class 23), his classmate from the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

Ko began his career as a prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office in 1997 and worked in the Ministry of Justice's key department, the Second Division of the Prosecution, in 2000 during his time as a junior prosecutor. Later, in 2005, while serving at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, he was dispatched to the Ministry of Justice's Policy Planning Division. Under the current administration, he was appointed Director of the Crime Prevention Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Justice in 2017 and promoted to Chief Prosecutor.

Additionally, he has held various key positions within the prosecution, including Prosecutorial Research Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Head of the Public Security Division 3 at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief of the Criminal Division 5 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Head of the Violent Crimes Division (Chief Prosecutor) at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office, and Chief Prosecutor of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office. He has experience across planning and policy departments at the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office as well as frontline investigative divisions, without being biased toward special or public security fields.

After Minister Choo took office in January, Ko was immediately appointed Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. This position is the senior among the four district prosecutors' offices in the Seoul metropolitan area. Upon his appointment, he emphasized "humble and restrained exercise of prosecutorial power" and indicted former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk without detention on charges including instructing the cover-up of the inspection of Yoo Jae-soo, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan. His promotion to Deputy Minister just three months after assuming the Chief Prosecutor position confirms the strong trust placed in him by the current administration.

A senior former prosecution official who knows him well, Mr. A, described him as "a very rational person" and assessed that "he is not someone who would cause major conflicts with Prosecutor General Yoon regarding prosecutorial reform and other issues." There is also anticipation within the prosecution that communication between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution, which has repeatedly shown signs of conflict, will improve.

With the veil lifted on the Deputy Minister of Justice appointment, attention now turns to the current Deputy Minister Kim Oh-soo's future path. Although there were initial rumors about his appointment as head of the Financial Supervisory Service, a position at the deputy minister level, he was not included in this personnel reshuffle, suggesting a possible promotion to a ministerial-level post.

Positions such as Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission or Chairperson of the Financial Services Commission have been mentioned. Among these, the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission is closely related to prosecutorial reform. In December last year, the Ministry of Justice's Legal and Prosecutorial Reform Committee recommended that the Anti-Corruption Commission adopt the "Prosecutorial Ombudsman System," which grants authority to investigate illegal or unjust prosecutorial procedures.

If Deputy Minister Kim moves to the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, he could push forward related work while applying pressure on the prosecution. Kim has also been regarded as a suitable figure to reform the financial market in light of recent large-scale financial damage cases such as Lime, ShillaJen, and overseas interest rate-linked derivative-linked funds (DLF) incidents.

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