Ministry of Justice Executes Prosecutor-General Level Personnel Changes... Promotions of Lee Seong-yoon and Lee Jung-soo Draw Attention

First Large-Scale Regular Personnel Appointment

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the 4th, the Ministry of Justice carried out promotions and transfers for 41 prosecutors at the level of senior prosecutors in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Lee Seong-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, was promoted to Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Jeong-su, Director of the Prosecutor's Office Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, was appointed as the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the largest investigative organization nationwide. The Ministry of Justice explained that in this personnel reshuffle, the procedure for the Minister of Justice to listen to the opinions of the Prosecutor General was actualized.

This personnel reshuffle is the first large-scale regular personnel change after the inauguration of Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye and Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo, aimed at filling vacancies caused by resignations and other reasons and implementing subsequent transfer measures accordingly. A Ministry of Justice official explained the background of the personnel changes, saying, "To revitalize the atmosphere of the prosecution and to ensure the stable completion of prosecutorial reform, we newly selected competent talents based on leadership, ability, qualifications, and expertise as senior prosecutors and placed them appropriately."

The most notable figure, Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon, was promoted to Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office. His successor is Lee Jeong-su, Director of the Prosecutor's Office Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, who was formerly an aide to Minister Park.

Gang Nam-il, Chief Prosecutor of the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office, and Gu Bon-seon, Chief Prosecutor of the Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office, both from the 23rd Judicial Research and Training Institute class, were all relegated to research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Cho Nam-gwan, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, moved to become the head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Han Dong-hoon, a close aide of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, was transferred from a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute to Deputy Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

According to the Ministry of Justice, at the level of Chief Prosecutor of High Prosecutors' Offices, one from the 23rd class, one from the 24th class, three from the 25th class, and one from the 26th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute were newly appointed as Chief Prosecutors of High Prosecutors' Offices, based on comprehensive evaluation of ability, qualifications, leadership, command capabilities, and trust inside and outside the prosecution. At the level of senior prosecutors, after eligibility review by the Prosecutorial Personnel Committee for new appointments at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office level, one from the 27th class, five from the 28th class, and four from the 29th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute were newly appointed to senior prosecutor positions. The Ministry of Justice explained that transfers at the Chief Prosecutor and senior prosecutor levels were arranged considering expertise, ability, and past achievements. In this process, the principle of full rotation for existing Supreme Prosecutors' Office level prosecutors was applied, and a policy favoring human rights and criminal/trial matters was also reflected.

Additionally, efforts were made to diversify personnel composition by region of origin, school, and class year, and to conduct fair and balanced personnel appointments so as not to be biased toward specific departments, networks, or origins.

Meanwhile, Minister Park held a marathon consultation lasting about five hours, including dinner time, with Prosecutor General Kim to discuss the personnel plan for prosecutors at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office level. Their meeting started at 4 p.m. the previous day. Upon entering the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, the meeting venue, Prosecutor General Kim said, "I will strongly discuss many things with the Minister."

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