Yoon Personally Oversees Strengthening Legal Protection for Vulnerable Groups

Assignment of Criminal Law Expert to the Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee of the Transition Committee

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is attending the transition committee secretariat meeting held at the Presidential Transition Committee in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 22nd, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kum Boryeong, Lee Gimin] It has been confirmed that President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol has dispatched a criminal law expert to the Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee of the Presidential Transition Committee. Although criminal law experts are most likely to be assigned to the Political, Judicial, and Administrative Subcommittee, it appears that the subcommittee was changed to strengthen protection and welfare for vulnerable groups.

According to the Transition Committee and legal circles on the 22nd, Seung Jaehyun, a research fellow at the Korea Institute of Criminal Justice and Legal Policy, was assigned to the Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee instead of the Political, Judicial, and Administrative Subcommittee. The Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee of the Transition Committee is reviewing and turning into policies the pledges President-elect Yoon made during his presidential campaign regarding various social sectors such as children and youth, the elderly, women, pensions, and media.

Sending a criminal law expert to this subcommittee is interpreted as reflecting President-elect Yoon’s determination to strengthen criminal punishment for vulnerable groups and firmly establish legal relief measures for victims. President-elect Yoon has consistently emphasized that the government must strictly punish crimes against socially vulnerable groups and make efforts to legally protect victims. For this reason, he included in his pledge book plans to create a digital information network for preventing child abuse, establish a dedicated organization for abuse prevention, strengthen punishment for child abuse, revise the age criteria for juvenile offenders, and set up integrated specialized courts for issues related to children, youth, and families.

Researcher Seung has collaborated with overseas research institutions not only in the field of investigation procedure law but also in international cooperation, focusing on juvenile crime, child crime, crimes against women, and protection policies for vulnerable groups. He has also emphasized protection of the weak and respect for human rights while serving as a policy evaluation committee member of the Ministry of Justice’s Crime Prevention Policy Bureau and as a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Women and Children Policy Deliberation Committee.

In particular, even if the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is abolished, to further expand support for victims of sexual violence, which was handled by the ministry, it is necessary to establish a special organization for investigating power-related sexual crimes and providing relief to victims. Additionally, to prevent power-related sexual crimes and strengthen sentencing guidelines for sexual crimes, legal experts with relevant knowledge are needed.

An official from the Transition Committee explained, "It seems that a criminal law expert was added not only to assist with systems related to vulnerable groups but also to help with legal reviews and institutionalization of various pledges and current issues in the social welfare and culture sector."

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