Amid Ministry of Justice-Prosecution Conflict, Yoon's Successor Appointment Gains Momentum

Commencement of First Round Candidate Selection, Recommendation Committee to Convene Early Next Month... Likely Impact on Prosecutors' Opposition Including 'Joint Inspection'

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The selection process for the next Prosecutor General is set to begin in earnest. With the public nomination process completed, the first meeting of the Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Committee to narrow down the final pool of candidates will be held by early April at the latest. However, the conflict between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution over the 'Han Myeong-sook case' is expected to become a variable in the remaining selection process.

According to the legal community on the 23rd, the Ministry of Justice has started the first round of selecting suitable candidates based on the public nominations for the Prosecutor General position, which closed the previous day. During this process, cases where nominators intentionally disclosed nominees and violated procedures will be filtered out. Since the Minister of Justice can present individuals not nominated to the recommendation committee, Minister Park Beom-gye is also expected to carefully review the nomination list.

As there were no conditions for the nomination process, the list reportedly includes prominent candidates such as Cho Nam-gwan, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office; Lee Seong-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office; Han Dong-soo, Director of the Inspection Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office; Han Dong-hoon, Research Fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, who is involved in the 'media collusion suspicion' case; and Lee Doo-bong, Chief Prosecutor of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, who led the investigation into the 'Wolseong Unit 1 economic feasibility evaluation manipulation case.' Notably, Bong Wook, former Deputy Prosecutor General and a new Supreme Court Justice nominee, is also said to be on the Prosecutor General nomination list.

The Ministry of Justice will narrow down the candidate list in the first round and submit it to the Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Committee, which will then review and shortlist three or more candidates. The committee will present the shortlisted candidates to the Minister of Justice, at which point the list may be made public. Subsequently, among the final candidates, President Moon Jae-in will appoint the Prosecutor General, who will then undergo confirmation hearings and other procedures.

Inside and outside the prosecution, the conflict between the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution over the alleged perjury obstruction case involving former Prime Minister Han is seen as a potential variable. While the Supreme Prosecutors' Office judged the case as no charges, Minister Park stated that "procedural justice is in doubt" and countered with a joint inspection order.

In this context, Deputy Prosecutor General Cho, who led the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's chiefs' meeting, is considered to have somewhat distanced himself from the leading candidate pool. Moreover, Deputy Cho publicly demanded the withdrawal of disciplinary action against former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl during former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae's disciplinary phase. Despite his background as head of the Special Inspection Team at the Blue House during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, opposition voices against Deputy Cho within the ruling party are expected to grow.

However, the Ministry of Justice is unlikely to fill the candidate pool solely with pro-government figures. Since there are ongoing protests within the prosecution against Minister Park's joint inspection order, a 'prosecution turmoil (檢亂)' similar to that during former Minister Chu's tenure could severely impact the government's ability to govern.

In fact, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office issued an official statement expressing "active cooperation" with Minister Park's joint inspection order, strongly rebutting by stating, "The Supreme Prosecutors' Office's decision was made through a rational decision-making process under the minister's investigative command, based solely on legal principles and evidence."

Regarding Minister Park's remark that the attendance of a prosecutor from the investigation team at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office chiefs' meeting was "not included in the investigative command," the office showed discomfort, stating, "The prosecutor's attendance was not to hear his defense regarding the perjury coaching suspicion but was decided through a rational procedure to clarify the substantive truth related to the case's issues."

Furthermore, the upcoming joint inspection by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is likely to become a new source of conflict between the two sides. The joint inspection will broadly cover the allocation process of the alleged perjury obstruction case involving former Prime Minister Han last year up to the no-charge conclusion reached at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office research officers' meeting earlier this month. To examine the allocation process, the conflict axis between former Prosecutor General Yoon and former Minister Chu must be revisited. A lawyer with a prosecution background said, "Minister Park's choice as a member of the National Assembly has fueled opposition within the prosecution," adding, "Minister Park will ultimately make political judgments rather than consider internal prosecution voices, both in the joint inspection and in the process of appointing the next Prosecutor General."

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