Yoon Administration's First Deputy Minister of Justice Ino Gong "Feels a Heavy Sense of Responsibility"

This Vice Minister: "Will Do Our Best to Support National Administration Without Neglecting Establishment of Legal Order"

Inogong New Deputy Minister of Justice

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The first Deputy Minister of Justice under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is Ino-gong, former head of the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, who was the first female Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (age 53, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 26). She was appointed ahead of Han Dong-hoon, the nominee for Minister of Justice (class 27), marking a seniority reversal in the Judicial Research and Training Institute classes.

Immediately after her appointment on the 13th, Deputy Minister Lee said, "I feel a heavy responsibility being appointed as the first Deputy Minister of Justice in the new government. I will quickly grasp the duties and do my utmost to ensure the thorough execution of the Ministry of Justice's national agenda, and I will spare no effort in providing national advisory support for the establishment of legal order, protection of human rights, and global standard legal administration."

Deputy Minister Lee began her career as a prosecutor in 1997. In 2018, when President Yoon Seok-yeol was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, she became the first woman to serve as the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor there, and the following year, she was appointed head of the Seongnam Branch, a typical promotion path to becoming a chief prosecutor.

Deputy Minister Lee is from Incheon, graduated from Yeongnak High School and Yonsei University’s Department of Law, and completed a master's degree in law at the same university’s graduate school. She passed the 36th Judicial Examination in 1994 and completed the 26th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, entering the prosecution service in 1997 as a prosecutor at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.

Since then, Deputy Minister Lee has held key positions within the prosecution, including prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Affairs Office, head of the Criminal Division 2 at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, head of the Trial Division 3 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, head of the Yeongdong Branch of the Cheongju District Prosecutors' Office, head of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, and Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office.

Deputy Minister Lee, who was a strong candidate for promotion to chief prosecutor, submitted her resignation and left the prosecution after being sidelined in the first personnel reshuffle following the appointment of former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae in 2020. She then moved to become a partner lawyer at the law firm Sejong.