Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
New appointments signal president’s push on prosecution reforms
Jung Sung-ho, nominee for justice minister in President Lee Jae Myung’s administration, enters his office at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Lee's longtime aide, ex-prosecutor to lead changes to power agency structure
President Lee Jae Myung’s recent appointments to key legal posts have stirred both expectations and concerns over the direction and urgency of the prosecution reforms he pledged during his campaign.
The appointments also signal a direct challenge to the nation’s powerful prosecution, a move that supporters view as a necessary reform of a politically charged institution and critics see as an attempt to assert executive control. The appointments are expected to reignite a fierce political battle with opposition parties, who fear the president is attempting to curb the institution’s independence for political gain.
The nomination of five-term lawmaker and close political ally Rep. Jung Sung-ho as justice minister, along with the appointment of former prosecutor Bong Wook as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, signals an assertive push to carry forward the unfinished reform agenda of the Moon Jae-in administration.
Jung, who entered the Judicial Research and Training Institute alongside Lee in 1987 and has maintained a close relationship with him for nearly four decades, is regarded as a key figure within the pro-Lee faction. His nomination is widely seen as assigning one of the administration’s most sensitive reform efforts — prosecution reform — to a trusted ally.
Bong Wook, newly appointed senior secretary for civil affairs, attends a personnel announcement briefing at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
Bong, a former deputy prosecutor general and head of policy planning at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, is expected to play a pivotal role in advancing these reforms. Known for his administrative expertise, he is poised to facilitate coordination between the presidential office, the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution.
The Lee administration is expected to pursue structural reforms by dismantling the prosecution’s investigative functions and transferring them to a newly created Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, while retaining the existing prosecution office’s role in indictments and trials. This move would mark a significant step toward permanently separating investigative and prosecutorial powers.
The reform package, which aims to prevent the kind of reversals seen under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, is expected to be implemented quickly. Following the controversial yet incomplete overhaul from Yoon's predecessor Moon, observers note that Lee’s team is emphasizing “irreversibility” in the second wave of reform.
Jung’s extensive experience on the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, including his time as chair of the special committee on judicial reform, is considered a valuable asset. Meanwhile, Bong’s appointment reflects the administration’s intention to strike a balance between reform momentum and institutional stability. During his previous term of office, Bong emphasized the need to reduce the prosecution’s investigative role while maintaining judicial oversight of police investigations.
His nuanced stance on prosecutorial reforms is evident from his previous comments opposing the total removal of oversight of the police by prosecutors, due to a lack of international precedent and potential threats to due process. These views suggest that the administration may opt for a calibrated approach, sharply reducing prosecutorial authority while preserving oversight functions to prevent investigative overreach.
The appointment of Lee Jin-soo, head of the Criminal Division at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and an outsider to the elite special investigation track, as vice justice minister underscores the administration’s break from the prosecution’s traditional power base.
Still, the government faces the challenge of achieving structural reforms while minimizing internal resistance. The recent revision of the Act on Discipline of Prosecutors, which grants the justice minister authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against prosecutors, may significantly influence the reform’s trajectory and inter-agency relations.