Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won A former judge who became a leading architect of the ruling party’s prosecution overhaul has been nominated to lead Korea’s Justice Ministry.Kim Seung-won, 57, is a two-term Democratic Party lawmaker and a member of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.Born in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, in 1969, Kim studied law at Seoul National University and passed the bar in 1996. He joined the bench in 2002, serving at the Jeonju and Suwon district courts, before leaving in 2009 to practice law. He later worked in Moon Jae-in's presidential office.Since winning a parliamentary seat in 2020, Kim has emerged as one of the ruling bloc’s strongest advocates of stripping prosecutors of investigative authority and confining them to bringing and maintaining charges.If confirmed, he will oversee the Oct. 2 replacement of the prosecution service with a new Prosecution Office and guide the separation of investigations from prosecutions.
hnpark@heraldcorp.com
