President Lee Jae-myung on the 30th nominated Rep. Kim Seung-won of the Democratic Party of Korea as the new candidate for Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
Kim is currently the ruling party secretary on The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. He actively contributed to getting a bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Act, centered on a complete abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, through the National Assembly threshold.
Within the Democratic Party, Kim is classified as a pro-Myung (pro–Lee Jae-myung) lawmaker. In 2022, when President Lee served as the party leader, Kim served as the legal affairs committee chair. He also served as co-chair of the intraparty lawmakers' group "Lawmakers' group to push for cancellation of the indictment in President Lee Jae-myung's case and a parliamentary investigation."
He has taken a hard-line stance on prosecution and judicial reform issues. As a two-term Democratic Party lawmaker, he ran in Suwon Gap, Gyeonggi, and won in both the 21st and 22nd general elections. In the 21st National Assembly, he was a key member of "Cheoreomhwe," a lawmakers' group discussing prosecution reform alongside former lawmakers Kim Yong-min, Kim Nam-kuk, and Hwang Un-ha.
In Aug. 2022, Kim, along with other lawmakers, submitted a dissenting opinion on the enforcement decree for "geom-su-won-bok" ("restoration of prosecutors' investigative authority"). It was a response to the Ministry of Justice, led by then Minister Han Dong-hoon, seeking to expand the scope of corruption and economic crimes that prosecutors could investigate directly. The following year, at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, he also demanded that the Ministry of Justice roll back the enforcement decree.
In the 22nd National Assembly, he took part directly in follow-up legislation to eliminate prosecutors' investigative authority. In July this year, he joined the Democratic Party's Criminal Procedure Act amendment task force (TF) and submitted a bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Act that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority.
He then led the bill review as the ruling party secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and chair of the first subcommittee on bill review. At the time, Kim said, "Under the principle that prosecutors do not investigate—which is both the starting point and the completion of prosecution reform—we reaffirmed the separation of investigation and indictment as the basic principle of the review."
Kim was born in 1969 in Suwon, Gyeonggi. He graduated from Suseong High School and the Department of Public Law at Seoul National University School of Law, completed the 28th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, and served as a judge at the Jeonju District Court and the Suwon District Court.
After leaving the bench, he worked as a lawyer. He worked at the law firm Homin and then served as an administrator at the presidential office and as chief of staff to the Democratic Party floor leader.
▲ Born in 1969 in Suwon, Gyeonggi ▲ Suseong High School ▲ Department of Public Law, Seoul National University School of Law ▲ 28th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute ▲ Judge at the Jeonju and Suwon district courts ▲ Lawyer at Law Firm Homin ▲ Administrator at the presidential office ▲ Legal affairs committee chair, Democratic Party of Korea ▲ Democratic Party secretary, The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee ▲ Member of the 21st and 22nd National Assembly