Kim Oh-soo

Kim Oh-soo (Korean: 김오수, born 9 January 1963) is a South Korean prosecutor and the Prosecutor General-nominee. He previously served as the Deputy Minister of Justice from 2018 until 2020, and briefly the interim Minister of Justice following the resignation of Cho Kuk.

Kim was born in Hongnong-eup,[1] Yeonggwang, South Jeolla in 1963.[2][3][4][5] He studied at Hongnong Secondary School[1] and Gwangju Daedong High School before attending Seoul National University where he studied law.[2][3][4][5]

After qualifying for the bar in 1988, Kim started his career at Incheon District Prosecutor's Office in 1994.[2][3][4][5] He gained public intentions when he investigated corruption allegation of the former Chancellor of Yonsei University Jung Chang-young in 2005.[2][3][4][5] He also investigated alleged corruption of DSME and Hyosung in 2009.[2][3][4][5]

He has also been working at the Ministry of Justice for a long time, where he worked together with Park Sang-ki, Cho Kuk and Choo Mi-ae — all were the Justice Minister under the President Moon Jae-in.[3][4] In 2018, he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Justice, replacing Lee Keum-ro.[2] Following the resignation of controversial Cho Kuk, Kim became the interim Justice Minister until Choo Mi-ae was appointed to the position.[6]

On 3 May 2021, Kim was nominated the Prosecutor General after the resignation of Yoon Seok-youl who has been in conflict with the Moon Jae-in government.[3][4][5] He favours the prosecution reform of the Moon government, such as establishing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.[7] On 31 May, the National Assembly voted in favour of his appointment, despite the boycott of the oppositions.[8][9]

He married Cheon Kye-sook; the couple has a son and a daughter.[5]