Bar Association Recommends Bong Wook, Former Deputy Prosecutor General, and Yeo Woon-guk, Former High Court Judge, as Supreme Court Justice Candidates

Former Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bong Wook (left) and former Seoul High Court Judge Yeo Woon-guk.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Korean Bar Association (President Lee Chan-hee) has recommended former Deputy Prosecutor General Bong Wook (56, Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 19) and former Seoul High Court Judge Yeo Woon-guk (54, Class 23) as successors to Supreme Court Justice Park Sang-ok.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the Bar Association nominated former Deputy Prosecutor Bong and former High Court Judge Yeo as candidates for the Supreme Court Justice position to the Supreme Court the day before.

With Justice Park retiring this May, the Supreme Court received nominations from inside and outside the judiciary from the 15th to the 25th. To be nominated as a candidate for Supreme Court Justice, one must have over 20 years of legal experience as a judge, prosecutor, or lawyer and be at least 45 years old.

Former Deputy Prosecutor Bong graduated from Yeouido High School in Seoul and Seoul National University Law School, passing the 29th Judicial Examination in 1987 while still a student. After completing the Judicial Research and Training Institute as Class 19, he served as a military legal officer and began his career as a prosecutor in 1993 at the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office (now Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office).

Subsequently, Bong served as head of the Advanced Crime Investigation Division and Planning Division at the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Public Security Planning Officer, head of the Financial and Tax Investigation Division 1 at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, chief of the Jecheon, Yeoju, and Busan East Branch Prosecutors' Offices, deputy chief prosecutor at Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, director of the Human Rights Bureau, Planning and Coordination Office Director, Legal Affairs Office Director at the Ministry of Justice, chief prosecutor at Ulsan and Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Offices, deputy prosecutor general, and acting Prosecutor General, serving as a prosecutor for over 27 years until 2019. Recently, he has also been active as a member of the Samsung Compliance Committee.

Former High Court Judge Yeo graduated from Yongmun High School in Seoul and Seoul National University Law School, passing the 33rd Judicial Examination in 1991. After completing the Judicial Research and Training Institute as Class 23, she began her judicial career in 1997 at the Daejeon District Court and served as a judge for nearly 20 years until 2016.

She served as a judge at the Cheonan Branch of Daejeon District Court, Suwon District Court, Ansan Branch of Suwon District Court, Seoul High Court, was seconded as a constitutional researcher to the Constitutional Court, judge at Seoul Central District Court, chief judge at Jeonju District Court, professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, and from 2011 to 2015 served as a first-tier High Court Judge at the Seoul High Court's Equal Jurisdiction Division. In 2016, she was a member of the Administrative Trial Development Committee at the Court Administration Office. After leaving the judiciary, she worked as a member lawyer at the law firm Dongin, served as the Legislative Director of the Seoul Bar Association, a member of the National Assembly's Constitutional Amendment Special Committee, and Vice President of the Korean Bar Association.

The Supreme Court publicly discloses the list only of those candidates who consent to the review among those nominated by the Bar Association and others, and the Supreme Court Justice Recommendation Committee selects multiple candidates. Subsequently, Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo recommends one final Supreme Court Justice candidate to the President.