Prosecutor General Nam-gwan Cho (left), Seoul Central District Prosecutor General Lee Seong-yoonThe national recommendation for the successor of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol ends on the 22nd. While the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution are not stopping the conflict in the process of handling the case of’Han Myung-sook’s perjury, interest is gathering about who will be the next president to coordinate the two sides.
By this day, the Ministry of Justice will finish the procedure for advocating a candidate for the Prosecutor General. Justice Minister Park Beom-gye selects those who are deemed appropriate among the recommended personnel and proposes them to the Prosecutor General Candidate Recommendation Committee. When the total cold is screened, the candidate is compressed into three or more candidates, and President Moon Jae-in selects one final candidate through the proposal of Minister Park. The total cold was composed of nine members, chaired by former Minister Park Sang-sang, the first Minister of Justice of the Moon Jae-in administration. The first session of the total cold is expected by the end of this month.
Some of the influential candidates for the next president are Nam-gwan Cho (Deputy Chief of the Great Sword), Seoul Central District Prosecutor General Lee Seong-yoon, Supreme Prosecutor Han Dong-soo, and Gwangju High Prosecutor General Koo Bon-seon.
Prosecutor Lee emerged as the candidate for the next president, even before Yoon’s resignation. He was a junior at Kyunghee University to President Moon, and under the current government, he served as the head of the anti-corruption department at the great prosecutors’ office, and the prosecutor’s office at the Ministry of Justice. However, the fact that Prosecutor Lee is being investigated by the prosecution as a suspect in the’Illegal Withdrawal Case of Kim Hak’ can act as a stumbling block. Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office 3rd Division (Director Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop) has notified the District Prosecutor’s Office 4 times so far. Another weakness is that he was viewed as a prosecutor of the pro-state. In major investigations undertaken by the central district prosecutor, such as the’Channel A case’ and the’Ulsan Mayor’s election intervention case,’ he has clearly shown a friendly approach, such as delaying the accusation of the suspect. The trust within the prosecution has also been lost.
When a manager becomes the next president, he becomes the first non-prosecutor in the history of the constitution. A former judge, he was appointed Chief of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in October 2019 at the request of former Justice Minister Cho Kook. He also encountered a conflict with former President Yoon last year over whether or not he was spying on the case of’Han Myeong-sook’s mother-in-law’. At the end of last year, during the disciplinary process of former President Yun, he obtained a document of ‘Suspicious of Judge Inspector’ and handed it over to the Ministry of Justice. However, there are many predictions within the prosecution that if a former non-prosecutor is appointed as the president, backlash will be fierce. A former prosecutor asked, “If the president, who will command Jin Doo, has never investigated more than 2,000 prosecutors, will he be able to believe and follow it?” He also has a clear propensity for pro-government.
Jo’s acting agency was higher than that of Hu after the support rate was high inside the prosecution. However, it is evaluated that internal support is rather considered a weakness in that the current government maintains the stance of’prosecution reform’. In addition, it is said that in the process of dealing with the’Han Myung-sook case’, he has virtually refused to lead the investigation by Minister Park, and has been disqualified from the post of general president. Previously, when Minister Park held a meeting of chief prosecutors for the’Han Myung-sook incident’ and directed the investigation to re-deliberate, the acting representative of Cho invited the chief prosecutors from all over the country to attend the meeting. At the meeting, opinions were gathered in 10 (non-prosecution) vs. 2 (prosecution).
The evaluation of the major candidates is clear, and some are predicted that the former prosecutor-elect may be selected as the next president. It is said that the Ministry of Justice could present him as a kind of’compromise’.
Goo Prosecutor’s Office was promoted to Prosecutor’s Office in 2017, when the Moon Jae-in government took power for the same period as the 23rd term of the Judicial Research and Training Institute with former President Yoon. Last year, former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae sent him as Deputy Chief Swordsman during a personnel conflict with former President Yoon. While being classified as a special container, such as going through the Central Investigation Department of the Great Sword, it is evaluated that it has demonstrated ability as a planning prosecutor. Ko Prom. Goo was cautious in sending out an external message, so there was no apparent conflict with the current government. A former high-ranking prosecutor said, “The more the government engages in an all-out war with the prosecutors, the more blatantly critics are in the process, the more blatant personnel will be poisoned.”
[류영욱 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]