SEOUL, September 22 (AJP) -South Korea will launch a new prosecution service next month with around 80 to 85 percent of the country’s statutory prosecutor quota, in line with its diminished role.
The Justice Ministry said Tuesday that the Cabinet approved revised decrees governing the organization and staffing of the new Prosecution Service, which will replace the current prosecution system on Oct. 2.
The statutory quota currently stands at 2,292 prosecutors.
The new agency is expected to begin operations with around 1,900 by not filling the vacancies created by prosecutors transferring to the newly established Serious Crimes Investigation Agency or leaving the service.
The ministry also plans to seek a revision to the law governing the prosecutor quota to permanently reduce the number of prosecutors. The final scale of the reduction will be determined after an outside review of staffing and workloads following the new agency’s launch.
Staffing cuts will be much steeper among investigators and other employees. The ministry plans to eliminate 2,048 criminal justice positions, equivalent to 68.6 percent of the current 2,986 positions, along with 477 other general-service posts. The total reduction in general-service personnel will reach 2,525, or about 30 percent.
The restructuring is part of President Lee Jae Myung’s overhaul of South Korea’s prosecution system, built around separating investigative and prosecutorial powers.
The existing prosecution office, established in 1948, will be abolished on Oct. 2 and replaced by two bodies. The Prosecution Service under the Justice Ministry will focus on indictments and prosecutions, while the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will take over investigations of major crimes.
The government has described the overhaul as an effort to institutionalize the separation of investigation and prosecution and create checks between the two functions.
The Prosecution Service Act passed the National Assembly on March 20, followed by the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency Act on March 21. Both laws were promulgated on March 24 and are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 2.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea’s new Prosecution Agency will launch Oct. 2 with prosecutors capped at about 80–85 percent of the current statutory quota.
- The Justice Ministry plans to further reduce the number of prosecutors after the agency begins operations, marking a significant downsizing of the prosecution system.
- The revised organizational plan also cuts investigative personnel, abolishes three deputy prosecutor-level posts and eight departments, and renames several controversial units.
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