Reform-minded investigator named prosecutor-general nominee

Yoon Seok-youl. Korea Times file

Yoon Seok-youl, a reform-minded veteran prosecutor who played a key role in looking into high-profile scandals that occurred under the former conservative governments, has been tapped to lead South Korea's prosecution, according to Cheong Wa Dae on Monday.

President Moon Jae-in decided to nominate Yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as prosecutor general, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, Ko Min-jung, said.

If appointed after a confirmation hearing, Yoon is to replace Moon Moo-il, who's retiring after a two-year term. His tenure ends July 24.

Although the president was on leave, he made the decision after receiving a related report from Justice Minister Park Sang-ki at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day.

If named to the post, Yoon would be the first prosecutor general with no experience of heading a high prosecutors' office, since South Korean introduced a fixed tenure for prosecution chief in 1988.

The nominee is subject to a parliamentary hearing, but the nomination itself does not require lawmakers' consent.

Yoon was a core member of the special prosecutor team tasked with looking into the corruption and power abuse scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.

The Cabinet is scheduled to endorse the nomination, an apparent formality, on Tuesday.

The nomination of Yoon came amid the liberal Moon administration's push for readjusting, or balancing, the power and authority of the nation's prosecution and police.

Yoon has also led a high-profile probe into suspicions that the National Intelligence Service intervened in the 2012 presidential election.

He studied law at Seoul National University and became a state prosecutor in 1994, when he was 34 years old. The outgoing prosecutor general joined the prosecution five years earlier than Yoon. (Yonhap)