▲ A road sign replaced with the Prosecution Service
The process of selecting the inaugural head of the Prosecution Service has begun.
This comes about one year and three months after former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung stepped down in July of last year.
The Ministry of Justice announced today (October 13) that it has formed a Prosecutor General Recommendation Committee to recommend candidates for the post.
Moon Moo-il, who served as Prosecutor General during the Moon Jae-in administration, will head the recommendation committee.
Ex-officio members include Ki Woo-jong, Deputy Director of the National Court Administration; Kim Jung-wook, President of the Korean Bar Association; Choi Bong-kyung, President of the Korean Law Professors Association; Kim Hyun-soo, Chairperson of the Association of Law Schools; and Lee Eung-chul, Director General for Criminal Justice at the Ministry of Justice.
In addition to former Prosecutor General Moon, the appointed non-ex-officio members are Yeo Jung-sung, former Vice President of Seoul National University; Shim Seok-tae, specially appointed professor at Semyung University; and Baek Myung-jae, head of the Seoul Seobu Smile Center.
The Ministry of Justice plans to accept public recommendations for candidates with at least 15 years of legal career experience starting tomorrow (October 14) through October 21.
Any individual, corporation, or organization can recommend a suitable candidate to the Minister of Justice in a non-public written format—excluding faxes and emails—along with stated reasons.
The Minister of Justice (currently Acting Minister Lee Jin-soo) will refer to the recommendation status and present individuals deemed suitable as candidates for review by the recommendation committee.
Subsequently, the recommendation committee will review their eligibility and recommend at least three candidates to the Minister of Justice, and the minister will respect the recommendation and submit one candidate to the President.
Unless there are special disqualifying reasons, the President will send a confirmation hearing request to the National Assembly and make the final appointment following a confirmation hearing.
With the official formation of the Prosecutor General Recommendation Committee, observations are emerging that the timeline for selecting a new Minister of Justice—currently vacant following the resignation of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Seung-won—could also accelerate.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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