Revised decree on prosecution office structure approved at Cabinet meeting Tuesday

Ruling-camp hardliners' criticism prompts rollback of earlier plan to maintain staffing

Legal community warns move will weaken oversight and trial functions

Lee Eung-cheol, director of the Ministry of Justice's prosecution bureau, briefs reporters at the ministry's office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday on the organizational structure of the new prosecution office. [Yonhap]
Lee Eung-cheol, director of the Ministry of Justice's prosecution bureau, briefs reporters at the ministry's office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday on the organizational structure of the new prosecution office. [Yonhap]

The Ministry of Justice is pushing to amend the Prosecutors' Quota Act to reduce the number of prosecutors at the new Public Prosecution Office, which is set to launch in October alongside the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency when the current Prosecution Service is abolished. The office will begin operations with roughly 80 to 85 percent of the current statutory quota of 2,292 prosecutors, and vacancies arising from special appointments to the investigation agency after the launch will not be filled separately. The division previously known as the Judicial Control Department will also be renamed the Non-Referral Review Department following criticism over its title.

The revision comes after hardliners within the ruling camp pushed back against an earlier draft decree, published for public comment earlier this month, that would have kept the prosecutor headcount at its current level. Legal circles, however, warn the cuts will erode the prosecution office's ability to oversee investigative agencies and sustain criminal trials.

The ministry held a briefing Tuesday morning at its office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, announcing that a revised organizational decree for the Public Prosecution Office and its affiliated agencies, along with amendments to the Prosecutors' Quota Act enforcement decree, had been approved at a Cabinet meeting that day. The ministry said the revisions reflected a broad range of opinions submitted during the public comment period from Sept. 4 to Sept. 9.

The decree approved Tuesday centers on reducing the number of prosecutors and investigative staff compared with the earlier draft. It also reorganizes the internal structure by abolishing three additional deputy prosecutor-level posts and eight departments, and renames several divisions that had drawn criticism from the ruling camp, including the Judicial Control Department.

The ministry said it would pursue a reduction in the prosecutor quota given that investigative functions are being stripped away, and that it would reallocate positions to strengthen trial support. Under the plan, the office will launch with roughly 80 to 85 percent of the current statutory quota of 2,292 prosecutors. Vacancies created by special appointments to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, as well as routine vacancies, will not be filled after the office opens.

On the planned amendment to the Prosecutors' Quota Act, the ministry said the specific scale of reductions would be determined after commissioning an independent external review of workload and organizational needs shortly after the prosecution office launches. It also said it would expand trial staffing by reassigning prosecutors from criminal divisions and other chambers to trial support units.

In addition, the revised plan cuts 230 more criminal justice officers — the current investigator class — compared with the earlier draft, bringing the total reduction to about 70 percent of the investigator workforce and 30 percent of all general-service staff across the current Prosecution Service. The total general-service headcount currently stands at 8,415; the earlier draft had set the figure at 6,120, and the revised plan cuts it further to 5,890.

Several department names were also changed. The Judicial Control Department will be renamed the Non-Referral Review Department, a unit responsible for reviewing the legality and appropriateness of cases that judicial police officers have declined to refer for prosecution, in order to prevent cases from being buried. The Serious Crimes Prosecution Department — previously called the Serious Crimes Dedicated Department — will focus on deciding whether to indict cases referred by the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and supporting the conduct of those trials.

The revised plan reflects criticism that poured in from the ruling camp. The Democratic Party of Korea and other ruling-camp hardliners had repeatedly argued that maintaining the prosecutor quota in the earlier draft ran counter to the spirit of prosecution reform. The naming of the Judicial Control Department also drew sustained objections. President Lee Jae Myung had directed a review of the prosecution office's organizational structure in response.

Legal professionals, however, have voiced concern about the planned staff reductions. They argue that even after the Prosecution Service is abolished, the oversight role the new office must perform remains just as important — and that the cuts overlook that reality.

"This appears to reflect a complete lack of understanding of how the Prosecution Service actually operates," one legal official said. "Even now, prosecutors are drowning under 160,000 unsolved cases, and with prosecutors falling ill, retiring and taking leave, cutting the quota rather than expanding it will only worsen working conditions and drive more prosecutors to quit or move on. It will be hard to expect the many cases entrusted to prosecutors to be handled properly. Accurate processing within the criminal justice system will become even more difficult."


bell@heraldcorp.com