President Moon Jae-in has appointed a veteran lawyer experienced in government affairs as the special prosecutor to head a fact-finding investigation into the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking.

Presidential office spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said the president approved the appointment of special prosecutor Lee Hyun-joo on Friday morning.

Lee previously served as the Justice Ministry's human rights policy director and a deputy mayor for Daejeon, as well as regional head for the civic group Lawyers for a Democratic Society, also known as Minbyun.

Lee was one of two on the shortlist of candidates recommended by a special parliamentary committee on Thursday. The other was Chang Sung-keun, also a lawyer.

Last year, the National Assembly revised a special law on the Sewol incident to pave the way for the launch of an independent counsel investigation team.