The Justice Ministry has refuted media reports suggesting a potential large-scale inefficiency in the prosecutor workforce ahead of the implementation of a revised criminal procedure law focused on the separation of investigation and prosecution.

On August 3, the ministry stated in a briefing that the core prosecutorial functions, excluding direct investigations by prosecutors, will continue without disruption following the separation and the establishment of the prosecutorial office. It emphasized that the demand for personnel and organizational resources will remain sufficient.

Even with the reorganization into a prosecutorial office, the ministry maintains that essential duties such as requests for supplementary investigations, decisions on prosecution or non-prosecution, maintaining prosecutions, executing sentences, recovering criminal proceeds, and judicial cooperation will continue unchanged.

The ministry anticipates that after the implementation of the revised law, the system for requesting supplementary investigations from police and other investigative agencies will be significantly strengthened, and new procedures for verifying facts will be established. This will greatly increase the judicial oversight responsibilities assigned to the prosecutorial office before charges are filed. Consequently, the roles of prosecutors and staff in handling case reception, processing, preserving seized items, and reviewing warrants are expected to expand.

Additionally, the ministry addressed concerns regarding the potential for workforce inefficiency, noting that given the scale of personnel transitions to the new office, some essential functions may require maintaining current staffing levels or could lead to reductions. It dismissed fears that the number of personnel maintaining prosecutions would increase by three to four times, resulting in inefficiencies. The ministry is reportedly coordinating with relevant departments to ensure that there are no disruptions in handling public safety and serious crime cases through functional personnel restructuring and redeployment plans.

Previously, the Chosun Ilbo reported that if a significant number of the current 8,200 prosecutors remain with the prosecutorial office, the workload for maintaining prosecutions, which was previously handled by hundreds, would be divided among 2,000 personnel, leading to inefficiencies where one task is shared by three to four individuals. The report also suggested that due to staffing limits, many investigative officers may not be accommodated in the new office, potentially leaving a large number of personnel idle, indicating the repercussions of hasty legislation that stripped investigative powers without a proper personnel management strategy.

In response, the Justice Ministry characterized these concerns as a misunderstanding of the existing structure of the prosecutor's office and the functions of the new prosecutorial office, asserting that it will thoroughly prepare detailed redeployment plans to ensure uninterrupted operations of prosecutorial functions after its establishment.

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