1st woman justice minister seen shaking up prosecution

Home > National > Politics

print dictionary print

1st woman justice minister seen shaking up prosecution

The appointment of the new minister of justice, Kang Gum-sil, will likely have a heavy impact on the prosecution, a conservative, hierarchical and male-dominated organization. Ms. Kang is the first female justice minister and at 46 is one of the youngest to hold the post.
Ms. Kang graduated from Kyunggi Girl’s High School in Seoul and majored in law at Seoul National University. She passed the national bar exam when she was 24 and began her career as a judge at a Seoul district court in 1983.
Ms. Kang was considered a progressive as a judge. When her husband, a publisher, was arrested in 1988 on a charge of violating the National Security Law for printing a translation of Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital,” she spoke out against the arrest. Given her position as a judge and the oppressive Roh Tae-woo regime’s strict control over the society, her act was unprecedented.
In 1993, Ms. Kang led a meeting of junior judges to discuss reforms for the judiciary. The ideas generated at the meeting contributed to the resignation of the then chief of the Supreme Court, who was the subject of a corruption investigation at the time.
In 1996 she went into private legal practice, doing mostly pro bono work.
Those who know Ms. Kang say she looks cold in court but is actually warm-hearted and full of humor. She divorced three years ago and is currently living with her elder sister.
Most prosecutors were visibly perplexed after learning of Ms. Kang’s appointment. The idea that a relatively young woman has become the boss may have come as a shock, particularly in an organization where it is customary for prosecutors to resign if someone who passed the bar exam after them is promoted above them. Most of the senior prosecutors who will answer to Ms. Kang passed the bar exam more than 10 years before her, and observers predicted that that fact would bring a wave of resignations.
That may be exactly what President Roh Moo-hyun wants. He has said he hopes Ms. Kang’s appointment will eliminate the prosecution’s emphasis on hierarchy and give the organization a fresh start.


by Kim Won-bae, Jeon Jin-bae
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)