President Lee Jae-myung appointed attorney Park Ji-young (56), a former prosecutor, as secretary for the judicial system in the presidential office's senior civil affairs secretary's office at Cheong Wa Dae. According to Cheong Wa Dae on the 22nd, Park began reporting to Cheong Wa Dae from that day, the day after Han Chan-sik was appointed senior civil affairs secretary. The post, newly created by the Lee administration to overhaul the criminal justice system including the courts and the prosecution, had been vacant for nearly four months after Lee Jin-guk, the secretary for the judicial system, offered to resign eight months into the job in February.
Park served as an assistant counsel to the special counsel investigating the insurrection case that probed former President Yoon Suk-yeol and others in connection with the Dec. 3 martial law crisis. A 29th class graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Park served as general affairs chief and head of the Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, head of the prosecution reform promotion team at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and deputy chief at the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office and the Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office. After leaving the prosecution in September 2023, Park worked as an attorney at BAE, KIM & LEE LLC.
The secretary for the judicial system is responsible for follow-up tasks on prosecution reform, including the establishment of the Public Prosecution Service and the Serious Crimes Investigation Service, which are the administration's top priorities, as well as issues such as prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority and the transfer of all cases. The role also includes coordinating political positions with the Ministry of Justice, the prosecution, and the Supreme Court, and mediating differences among ministries that arise during the institutional overhaul process.
The appointment drew attention as it coincided with the naming of Han Chan-sik, who previously headed the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, as senior civil affairs secretary. Following former senior secretary Bong Uk, who was from the prosecution and Kim & Chang, the administration tapped the newly appointed Han and brought in Park, a former prosecutor. A Cheong Wa Dae official said this signaled an intention to entrust the reform work to figures well-versed in the prosecution's organization and investigative practice after the framework for prosecution reform separating investigation and indictment was put in place. Some in the ruling camp also say this is likely far from the hard-line reforms demanded by the more hard-core base, such as abolishing the supplementary investigation authority.