The candidate for justice minister, who has been vacant for two months, has been narrowed down to tw..

The candidate for justice minister, who has been vacant for two months, has been narrowed down to two former high-ranking prosecutors, including Park Kyun-taek and Yang Boo-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea. Amid the reorganization of the criminal justice system with the launch of the Public Prosecution Service and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, attention is being paid to who President Lee Jae Myung will choose as the new head of the Ministry of Justice.

According to the political circle on the 25th, Cheong Wa Dae is putting Park and Yang on the final list of candidates and conducting a last-minute review. An official from the Blue House told Yonhap News, “President Lee is considering Rep. Park and Rep. Yang at the last minute after going through hardships,” adding, “I know that the appointment will take place soon.”

Former candidate Kim Seung-won, who was previously nominated for justice minister at the time of the reshuffle on August 30, resigned on the 19th of last month due to allegations of request for approval of clinical trials of new drugs. Since then, Cheong Wa Dae has reviewed the candidate group from the ground up.

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Both candidates are first-term lawmakers and former high prosecutors based in Gwangju and Jeonnam.

When President Lee was the leader of the Democratic Party, he was recruited to the party, served as a special legal adviser and chairman of the legal committee, and was also involved in responding to President Lee’s judicial risks. As he has experienced both the prosecution organization and the investigation practice, it is interpreted that the review is being conducted on whether he is the right person for the settlement of the new criminal justice system and organizational stability.

Rep. Park graduated from Daedong High School in Gwangju and Seoul National University Law School and completed the 21st Judicial Research and Training Institute. He served as the chief prosecutor of the Gwangju High Prosecutor’s Office, and in the Moon Jae In government, he served as the first prosecutor general of the Ministry of Justice and was in charge of reforming the prosecution. During the Roh Moo Hyun administration, he was dispatched to the Judicial System Reform Promotion Committee to carry out tasks related to judicial and prosecutorial reforms.

In 2022, when President Lee was the party leader, he served as the party leader’s special legal adviser. He served as a lawyer for President Lee in the Baekhyun-dong, Seongnam FC, and North Korea remittance cases and participated in the investigation and interrogation process of suspects before arrest.

Regarding the reform of the prosecution, he expressed the need to allow exceptional and conditional supplementary investigation rights, but in the issue of revocation of the prosecution in President Lee’s case, he added to the theory of revocation of the prosecution. At the time of discussions on the prosecution’s manipulation prosecution special prosecution law, he also suggested that the special prosecutor should be given the right to cancel the prosecution.

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After graduating from Damyang Technical High School and Chonnam National University Law School as the 22nd member of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Yang served as the head of the Busan High Prosecutor’s Office. While serving as a prosecutor, he investigated major cases such as the Daegu subway arson case, allegations of illegal presidential election funds of the Grand National Party, and corruption in hiring Kangwon Land. During the Moon Jae In administration, it was also mentioned as a candidate for the prosecutor general.

Yang was co-appointed as the chairman of the Democratic Party’s legal committee along with former candidate Kim Seung-won in 2022 and oversaw President Lee’s response to judicial risks for about a year and a half. Later, he served as the chairman of the party’s legal committee under Kim Min-seok’s system. It is also classified as a group of lawmakers from the defense team in Daejang-dong, along with other lawmakers who defended President Lee and his aides.

Some political circles predict that Park, who has been mentioned as a strong candidate, may have been given weight. However, analysts say that it is difficult to predict the final nomination because variables such as opposition opposition and public opinion remain, including the issue of revocation of prosecution in President Lee’s case.

The post of Justice Minister has been vacant for 60 days since August 26, when former Justice Minister Chung Sung-ho resigned. As of the 2nd, when the Public Prosecution Service was launched, the minister’s vacancy was on the 23rd day.