President Lee Nominates Defense Acquisition Program Administration Chief Lee Yong-cheol for Justice Minister
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- 2026-11-06 15:44:43
- Updated
- 2026-11-06 15:44:43
[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung has nominated Defense Acquisition Program Administration Commissioner Lee Yong-cheol as the new candidate for justice minister.
Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Kwang-hyun announced the nomination in a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae on the afternoon of the 6th.
The nominee is from Sunchang, North Jeolla Province. He passed the 31st bar examination in 1989 and completed the 21st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He was active in civil society organizations, including Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) and the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), and also worked in the Seongnam area, serving as head of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation in 2011. He has ties to President Lee, having served on the transition team when Lee was elected mayor of Seongnam in 2014.
He also served as legal secretary and civil affairs secretary in the Office of the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at Cheong Wa Dae under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, before becoming vice commissioner of DAPA in 2006. He was appointed DAPA commissioner last November.
The justice minister’s post has remained vacant since lawmaker Jung Sung-ho, who served as the first justice minister of the Lee Jae Myung administration, stepped down. Lawmaker Kim Seung-won was nominated in August, but resigned amid controversy, including allegations of lobbying for approval of clinical trials for new drugs.
The nominee has also faced allegations that he granted preferential treatment during the selection of private developers for the Daejang-dong project. Cheong Wa Dae said it was also aware of the matter during the vetting process.
Ahn Deok-su, commissioner of the Seoul Regional Tax Office, was nominated as the new commissioner of the National Tax Service. Choi In-ho, a former two-term lawmaker and president of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), was nominated as the new senior presidential secretary for political affairs.
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