Shim Woo-jung Deputy Minister Emerges as Leading Candidate
All Leading Candidates Have Worked with President Yoon
The candidates for the next Prosecutor General, succeeding Lee Won-seok (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 27), who will retire upon the expiration of his term on the 15th of next month, will be revealed on the 7th.
Inside and outside the prosecution, Shim Woo-jung, Deputy Minister of Justice (class 26), Lim Gwan-hyeok, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office (class 26), and Shin Ja-yong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (class 28) are being considered, drawing attention to which one President Yoon Seok-yeol will ultimately choose.
From the left, Shim Woo-jung, Vice Minister of Justice; Lim Gwan-hyeok, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office; Shin Ja-yong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Photo by Beopryul Sinmun
The Ministry of Justice will hold the Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Committee (hereafter, the Recommendation Committee) at 2 p.m. that day, selecting 3 to 4 candidates from those nominated and recommending them to Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae.
Afterwards, Minister Park will propose one candidate from the recommended list to President Yoon. The Prosecutors' Office Act stipulates that when the minister proposes a candidate to the president, the recommendation of the Recommendation Committee must be respected. The Recommendation Committee consists of nine members, including ex officio members such as Song Kang, Director of the Ministry of Justice's Prosecution Bureau, Bae Hyung-won, Deputy Director of the Court Administration Office, and Kim Young-hoon, President of the Korean Bar Association. The chairperson is former Prosecutor General Jeong Sang-myeong.
However, despite this legally prescribed procedure, it has been customary for the president to decide the candidate in consultation with the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs or the Minister of Justice before the Recommendation Committee convenes.
Ultimately, the next Prosecutor General will be decided according to Yoon's will (尹心), and all the leading candidates have ties with President Yoon. All three are evaluated within the organization as suitable for the position of Prosecutor General in terms of work ability, character, and leadership.
The most likely candidate is Deputy Minister Shim. Born in Gongju, Chungnam, Shim is the son of Shim Dae-pyeong, former governor of Chungnam and leader of the Liberty Forward Party, and is regarded as having "no enemies inside or outside the prosecution." During the Park Geun-hye administration, he held key positions such as Director of the Criminal Planning Division and Director of the Prosecution Division at the Ministry of Justice, and Chief of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Under the Moon Jae-in administration, he was promoted to Chief Prosecutor and held important posts such as Director of the Planning and Coordination Office at the Ministry of Justice and Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. After the regime change, he was promoted to High Prosecutor and appointed Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and Deputy Minister of Justice. A former prosecutor described him as "a very outstanding person with a mild personality who does not show off."
He is a representative 'planner' within the prosecution, but his only handicap is a lack of experience in politically sensitive large-scale gate cases or special investigations of large corporations. However, in the current situation where 'specialist' prosecutors have been appointed to head various national institutions, including the Financial Supervisory Service, and have faced criticism since President Yoon's inauguration, this could work to his advantage. Notably, President Yoon appointed him as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, one class senior to Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, to assist the Prosecutor General, and later appointed him Deputy Minister of Justice during a difficult period of appointing a successor after former Minister Han Dong-hoon resigned, entrusting him with acting minister duties. This shows President Yoon's strong trust in Deputy Minister Shim. Jeong Jin-seok, Chief of Staff at the Presidential Office, who is also from Gongju, is a strong ally for him.
Unlike Deputy Minister Shim, Chief Prosecutor Lim and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Shin are typical 'specialist' prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Special Investigation Division 1 (currently Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1). Accordingly, compared to Deputy Minister Shim, who overlapped with President Yoon during his time as Chief of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Lim and Shin have much broader professional connections with President Yoon.
Chief Prosecutor Lim, who investigated former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook's violation of the Political Funds Act as a junior prosecutor, was considered the 'front-runner' among his peers, serving as head of Special Investigation Division 2 and then Special Investigation Division 1 during the Park Geun-hye administration. However, under the Moon Jae-in administration, he was demoted to Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Suncheon Branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office. Later, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol appointed him as head of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Unit in 2019. Despite this, Lim was not promoted to Chief Prosecutor and had to move to positions at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office and Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office. After President Yoon's inauguration, he appointed Lim as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, considered the most senior among the financial district prosecutors.
President Yoon is known to have been very regretful that Chief Prosecutor Lim, who has outstanding investigative skills, was not promoted to Chief Prosecutor in a timely manner. During Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's tenure, President Yoon strongly recommended Lim's promotion to Chief Prosecutor to Minister Choo. However, as is known, Minister Choo thoroughly rejected the Prosecutor General's opinions on personnel matters, and prosecutors recommended by President Yoon for Chief Prosecutor or Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office reportedly suffered disadvantages in personnel appointments.
Chief Prosecutor Lim is known as a principled person with a very upright character. Among prosecutors, there is a story that he clashed with Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, at a dinner. At that gathering with reporters and prosecution executives, Lim was told by a senior prosecutor to go greet Kim, who was then head of the Money Today legal team, but Lim retorted, "Why should I go greet first?" Eventually, he reluctantly greeted Kim, but had a heated argument with Kim, who showed disrespect to his superior by relying on his age. Toward the end, Kim expressed strong displeasure by saying something to the effect of, "I'll watch how well you do from now on. I can't promote you, but I can make sure you don't get promoted."
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Shin held key positions during the Moon Jae-in administration, including head of the Special Investigation Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Director of the Prosecution Division at the Ministry of Justice, and First Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. After the 'Cho Kuk incident,' which led President Yoon to confront the Moon administration, Shin was briefly demoted to head of the Litigation Division at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office but was later reinstated as Director of the Prosecution Bureau at the Ministry of Justice and Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office after the regime change. In 2016, while head of the Criminal Division 4 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, he was dispatched to the Special Prosecutor Team for the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation scandal, where he worked closely with President Yoon and Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Shin is evaluated as a prosecutor with excellent investigative skills and the ability to adjust pace. Unlike typical 'specialist' prosecutors, he does not overextend himself to achieve results. He served as head of Special Investigation Division 1 under Han Dong-hoon, then Third Deputy Chief Prosecutor, during President Yoon's tenure as Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, investigating several major cases. However, since Han entered politics and developed a subtle rivalry with President Yoon, Shin's classification as part of Han's faction is expected to be a disadvantage in the Prosecutor General appointment, where the president's intentions play a decisive role. Nevertheless, as Shin is two classes junior to Deputy Minister Shim and Chief Prosecutor Lim, even if he is not appointed Prosecutor General this time, there is a possibility he will be selected next time.
Some also mention Shin Eung-seok, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (class 28), Lee Jin-dong, Chief Prosecutor of Daegu High Prosecutors' Office (class 28), and former Chief Prosecutor Choi Kyung-gyu (class 25), who left the prosecution in May, as candidates for Prosecutor General.
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