TOP PROSECUTOR CANDIDATES

[Anchor Lead]

A committee screening candidates for prosecutor general has convened a meeting to deliberate on 14 candidates before selecting three or four final ones and recommending them to the Justice Ministry. All eyes are on whether Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Lee Sung-yoon will also be included.

[Pkg]

A committee deliberating on the next prosecutor general convened a meeting at the government complex in Gwacheon. Headed by former Justice Minister Park Sang-ki, the nine-members will select three final candidates and recommend them to the current minister of justice. One of them will be recommended to the president. The Justice Ministry already submitted the list of 14 candidates picked by the public. All eyes are on whether Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief Lee Sung-yoon will also be among the final candidates. Lee is currently being investigated for allegedly abusing power in connection with an illegal travel ban imposed against former vice justice minister Kim Hak-ui. Other candidates include high-ranking senior prosecutors including Acting Prosecutor General Cho Nam-kwan and Gwangju High Prosecutors' Office chief Koo Bon-sun. Former vice justice minister Kim Oh-soo and former Busan High Prosecutors' Office chief Yang Bu-nam have also been recommended. Once the list of final candidates is ready, the new prosecutor general will likely begin his or her term in late May or early June, following confirmation hearings.