Public Prosecution Office to Launch with 1,800-Plus Prosecutors; Judicial Control Division to Become Non-Referral Review Division

[Financial News] The Public Prosecution Office, which is scheduled to launch on October 2, will begin operations with more than 1,800 prosecutors—80–85% of the statutory quota of 2,292. To bolster trial prosecutors, personnel from criminal divisions and other units will be reassigned to trial divisions, while investigative personnel at prosecution offices will be cut by approximately 70%.
The Ministry of Justice released revised drafts on the “Organization of the Public Prosecution Office and Its Affiliated Agencies” and the “Enforcement Decree of the Prosecutors’ Quota Act” on the 22nd. The drafts were prepared after gathering opinions from various sectors of society from the 4th to the 9th and were approved at a Cabinet meeting that day.
Under the revised drafts, the Public Prosecution Office will launch with fewer than the 2,292 prosecutors stipulated under the Prosecutors’ Quota Act, employing more than 1,800 prosecutors, or 80–85% of the quota. The figure reflects not only ordinary vacancies but also additional vacancies resulting from special appointments at the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, applications for judicial posts, and personnel expected to resign in September.
The Ministry of Justice plans not to fill separately either the vacancies resulting from special appointments at the Serious Crime Investigation Agency or ordinary vacancies after the Public Prosecution Office launches.
The government will also pursue an amendment to the Prosecutors’ Quota Act to reduce the overall prosecutor quota. The specific scale of the reduction, however, will be determined after the new criminal justice system takes effect. Immediately after the Public Prosecution Office launches, the government plans to commission an objective and credible external institution to analyze its work and diagnose its organization before calculating the appropriate number of prosecutors.
Trial functions will be strengthened. Personnel from criminal divisions and other units will be reassigned to trial divisions so the current structure—in which one trial prosecutor handles two judicial panels—can shift to a system with one trial prosecutor assigned to each judicial panel.
The Ministry of Justice explained, "As trial-centered proceedings are strengthened and investigations and prosecution are separated, a thorough examination of the facts at the trial stage will become even more important."
The number of general-service personnel who handled investigative duties at prosecution offices will also be significantly reduced. The revised drafts call for cutting such investigative personnel by approximately 70% and converting those who remain into “criminal legal affairs personnel.” Rather than conducting direct investigations, they will handle practical tasks necessary for prosecutorial work, including deciding whether to prosecute referred cases and reviewing cases that were not referred.
The organization will also be smaller than outlined in the initial legislative notice. Three deputy-chief-prosecutor-level posts and eight divisions will be additionally abolished, while the names of some divisions, including the “Judicial Control Division,” will be changed to reflect their functions, such as the “Non-Referral Review Division.”
The Ministry of Justice is also pursuing the transfer of forensic analysis and identification functions to the ministry. It explained that these organizational and personnel adjustments incorporate the goals of prosecution reform, including the separation of investigations and prosecution, into the organizational structure.
 
[email protected] Choi Eun-sol Reporter