With just over 40 days until his inauguration, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will soon choose a candidate for the prime minister's position for his administration, according to reports. A short list of potential candidates is said to be being developed at the moment.

Yoon's spokesperson stated on Monday that the president-office elect's aims to select the final candidates by early April, citing the fact that the appointment process takes approximately one month.

According to Kim Eun-hye, spokesman for the South Korean government, "When we determine the final nominee for prime minister, we would request a parliamentary hearing, which would take at least three weeks from then, so we anticipate to have an outline of the candidate by early April."

They are also seeking for someone who will be able to lead the cooperation of ministers and officials working in the economy sector, which Kim stressed is extremely important. Kim also described what they are looking for in a candidate.

The report on probable nominations to the president-elect is anticipated to be delivered to the president-elect as early as this week, according to the officials.

As Yoon's chief of staff, Chang Je-won, said to reporters on Sunday, "It takes approximately 35 days to finish the appointment, so when you reverse that schedule, there are processes that should be completed at what time."

According to Chang, "we will report on the many potential candidates, and if the president-elect approves, we will then have to ask the nominee whether they would be willing to submit to the candidate vetting process."

Many names have been floated as possible candidates for the position.

As the president-elect has stated that the recovery and expansion of the economy are among his top goals, leaders from the economic sector, such as former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, are being examined as potential presidential contenders.

Han, who served as Prime Minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration from 2007 to 2008, is a trade expert who also served as South Korea's ambassador to the United States between 2009 and 2012.

Park Yong-maan, the former chairman of Doosan Group — the country's 15th largest conglomerate — is one of the probable candidates being evaluated for the position because of his 40 years of experience in the business world.

Yoon has placed a strong focus on national cohesion and unity, and a number of people from the political sphere have also been mentioned as potential possibilities.

Kim Han-gil, the former leader of the liberal Democratic Party, and Park Joo-sun, the former vice speaker of the National Assembly, are both in the running. Both of them are now serving on the presidential transition committee, with Kim serving as the chairman of the committee dedicated to national integration and Park serving as the chairman of the committee responsible for presidential inauguration planning.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of Yoon's presidential transition team, which is currently defining the outline of the future administration and conducting a thorough evaluation of major state affairs, is widely seen as a strong candidate for the position of prime minister.

Ahn was also a candidate in the presidential election, but he withdrew from the race soon before early voting began in order to express his backing for Yoon. He is also in the process of uniting his minor opposition People's Party with Yoon's larger opposition People Power Party, which he founded.

Ahn has "enough qualities" to be prime minister, according to People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok, who also stated that Ahn should not be ruled out as a candidate.

Because the appointment must be confirmed by the National Assembly, where the opposing ruling Democratic Party of Korea enjoys a clear majority of 172 seats out of 300, Yoon's office will take into consideration personalities who are less likely to face opposition in the National Assembly.

Rep. Kwon Young-se is one of the candidates who appears to be a strong contender. The four-term lawmaker is a close ally of Yoon's who served as the team leader for his presidential campaign and is currently serving as vice chairman of Yoon's presidential transition team.

In charge of the vetting of the candidates is reportedly Joo Jin-woo, a former prosecutor and Yoon's confidant, who is directing a team of roughly ten people in an office separate from the two present presidential transition committee buildings.