'Judge-Origin' Kang Seong-guk Nominated as New Deputy Minister of Justice... Continuation of Non-Prosecutor Policy (Summary)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] President Moon Jae-in has nominated Kang Seong-guk, Director of the Legal Affairs Office at the Ministry of Justice (age 55, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 20), as the new Deputy Minister of Justice.

Park Kyung-mi, spokesperson for the Blue House, stated in a written briefing on the 13th, "Based on his deep understanding of the overall work of the Ministry of Justice and his outstanding legal expertise, we expect Kang, the nominee, to actively and steadily promote the Ministry's urgent tasks such as justice and prosecution reform and policies on crimes against women and children."

Kang will begin his term starting the very next day, the 14th. He is originally from Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, and graduated from Mokpo High School and Korea University Law School. He passed the 30th Judicial Examination in 1988 and was appointed as a judge at the Gwangju District Court in 1994. After serving as a judicial research officer at the Supreme Court and working as a judge for 21 years at the Uijeongbu District Court and Seoul Central District Court, he opened a law practice in 2015 and worked at the law firm Jipyung before being appointed Director of the Legal Affairs Office at the Ministry of Justice in July last year.

In the legal community, he is regarded as a rational and personable figure, befitting his background as a former judge. While serving as Director of the Legal Affairs Office, he closely assisted Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye and is considered one of the people who understands the minister’s intentions regarding various important matters better than anyone else.

Kang will fill the vacancy of the Ministry of Justice’s second-in-command position, which had been empty since former Deputy Minister Lee Yong-gu resigned on the 28th of last month. It has been about a month. Lee resigned in disgrace just six months after his appointment due to an incident involving assaulting a taxi driver.

Meanwhile, the Blue House has once again demonstrated its policy of de-prosecutorization of the Ministry of Justice by consecutively appointing former judges as deputy ministers, following former Deputy Minister Lee. Previously, in December last year, the Blue House appointed Lee, marking the first time in 60 years that a non-prosecutor was appointed as Deputy Minister of Justice. Due to the nature of the Ministry of Justice’s work, which requires overseeing prosecution affairs, deputy ministers had mostly been appointed from among prosecutors until then.

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