Who Are the Candidates to Lead South Korea’s New Major Crimes Investigation Agency? Three Have Ties to Former President Yoon

Four legal and academic figures have been recommended as candidates to become the first head of South Korea’s Major Crimes Investigation Agency. Three came from the prosecution and one from the judiciary. Three of the four also have a connection to former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Kim Kwan-jung, a former prosecutor, served as head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office criminal division, chief of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office and head of the Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office under the Moon Jae-in administration. He reportedly clashed with Yoon, then prosecutor-general, while directing an investigation into an alleged collusion case involving prosecutors and the media. In 2022, Kim wrote on the internal prosecution network that then-Justice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon had intervened in the case. He also said Yoon had reacted angrily when investigators reported a planned search of a Channel A reporter’s home.

Lee Yun-je, a professor at Myongji University and former prosecutor, later entered academia and served as a legal research officer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He worked as a deputy special prosecutor on the team investigating Yoon’s declaration of emergency martial law. The Democratic Party also recommended him as a special prosecutor in the case involving the death of a Marine Corps service member.

Moon Hong-joo, a former presiding judge and lawyer at Ilseon, served as a deputy special prosecutor in the investigation involving Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee. That investigation examined allegations including stock-price manipulation and the receipt of a luxury bag.

Kim Ji-yong, the remaining candidate, served as chief of the Chuncheon District Prosecutors’ Office and head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office criminal division under Moon. Shortly after Yoon’s administration began in 2022, Kim was transferred to a deputy post at the Gwangju High Prosecutors’ Office in what was viewed as a demotion. He left the prosecution about a year later.