Kim Min-jae, vice minister of the Ministry of Interior and Safety and head of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency launch preparation committee, inspects preparations at the committee's office in the Changseong-dong annex of the Government Seoul Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Saturday. [Ministry of Interior and Safety]
Kim Min-jae, vice minister of the Ministry of Interior and Safety and head of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency launch preparation committee, inspects preparations at the committee's office in the Changseong-dong annex of the Government Seoul Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Saturday. [Ministry of Interior and Safety]

The government is moving quickly to finalize the organizational structure of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, which is set to launch Oct. 2. The plan calls for completing the agency's organizational decree and investigator appointment rules by next month, then beginning the hiring process for prosecutors and investigators in September to meet the statutory launch deadline.

According to the government Sunday, the SCIA launch preparation committee plans to finalize two key instruments by next month: the "Serious Crime Investigation Agency Organizational Decree," which will define the agency's structure, staffing levels and sub-units, and the "Serious Crime Investigation Agency Investigator Appointment Decree," which will set qualifications and hiring procedures for investigators.

Once that drafting work is complete, the committee will begin hiring prosecutors and investigators in September, with the agency's official launch on Oct. 2 proceeding as scheduled.

However, the agency's final size will depend on the outcome of a Criminal Procedure Act amendment currently under review in the National Assembly. The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority through the amendment and aims to pass it before its party convention on Aug. 17.

The preparation committee is understood to have drawn up multiple staffing scenarios to account for whether the law is revised. Once the amendment's fate is decided, the final headcounts for prosecutors and investigators will be incorporated into the organizational decree. The committee is also reviewing plans to bring in legal professionals with diverse backgrounds — including lawyers who graduated from the Korea National Police University — as investigative staff.

The government has made clear that even if some preparatory work remains unfinished by launch day, the agency will open on Oct. 2 without delay.

Work on the physical premises is also under way. Renovation is ongoing at Renaissance Square in Jung-gu, Seoul, which will house both the SCIA's main office and its Seoul branch.

The preparation committee had earlier determined that, in keeping with the agency's founding principle of separating investigation from indictment, it would be appropriate to use an independent building rather than an existing prosecutors' office — and selected Renaissance Square as the site for both the main office and the Seoul branch.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com