President Lee to Nominate After Personnel Vetting
Oh Youngjun, Chief Judge; Wi Gwangha, Judge; Lee Seungyeop, Attorney
The Office of the President has narrowed down the final candidates for the new Constitutional Court Justice to three individuals: Oh Youngjun, Chief Judge at the Seoul High Court (23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), Wi Gwangha, Judge (29th class), and Lee Seungyeop, attorney (27th class), and is currently conducting personnel verification. Among them, attorney Lee has represented President Lee Jaemyung in his violation of the Public Official Election Act case and the perjury instigation case.
On June 8, a senior official from the Office of the President stated that personnel verification is underway for these three candidates to fill the vacant Constitutional Court Justice position allocated to the president. Once the Office of the President completes the vetting process and selects the final two candidates, President Lee will nominate them as candidates for Constitutional Court Justice. The official explained, "Of the three candidates, two will be selected to be nominated as the president's share."
Chief Judge Oh is a traditional career judge who has served as a research judge at the Supreme Court, chief judge at the Seoul Central District Court, and chief research judge at the Supreme Court, and has also been mentioned as a candidate for Supreme Court Justice. Judge Wi has served at the Seoul Central District Court and the Gwangju High Court, and is currently handling trials at the Seoul High Court. Attorney Lee has represented President Lee in the Public Official Election Act violation case, the perjury instigation case, and the illegal remittance to North Korea case, among others.
Regarding some criticism that appointing attorney Lee, who represented President Lee, as a Constitutional Court Justice would be inappropriate, an official from the Office of the President stated, "I don't understand whether the argument is that anyone who has represented President Lee in a case should never hold public office, or what exactly constitutes a conflict of interest," adding, "We are listening to various opinions and nothing has been decided yet."
Previously, on June 5, President Lee withdrew the nominations of Lee Wankyu, head of the Korea Legislation Research Institute, and Ham Sanghun, Chief Judge at the Seoul High Court, who had been nominated in April during the Yoon Sukyeol administration by former Acting President and Prime Minister Han Ducksoo as successors to former Constitutional Court Justices Moon Hyungbae and Lee Miseon. The Office of the President explained that the nominations made by former Acting President Han without proper authority had been withdrawn.
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