'I'm ready to resign': Prosecutors' acting chief quits, leaving agency adrift

South Korea's prosecution service has been plunged into deep helplessness after the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act stripping prosecutors of their supplementary investigation authority. Prosecutors say they actively conveyed their concerns to the government and the ruling party throughout the legislative process, but none of their input was reflected in the final bill. The blow was compounded when acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun — who also serves as deputy chief of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office — submitted his resignation immediately after the bill cleared the Assembly, leaving the agency without effective leadership. With the Prosecutors' Office set to be abolished in October, just two months away, concerns are mounting that critical follow-up work to minimize the fallout from the revised law will be derailed.

Koo took personal leave Monday and did not report to the SPO building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. If President Lee Jae Myung accepts his resignation, the duties of the prosecutor general will pass to Park Gyu-hyung, head of the SPO's Planning and Coordination Division, until a new deputy chief is appointed. Koo had already been serving as acting prosecutor general in the absence of a confirmed chief, so his departure would create what observers are calling an "acting of an acting" arrangement. On Friday, after the Democratic Party of Korea pushed the Criminal Procedure Act amendment through a plenary session of the National Assembly, Koo announced his resignation, saying he felt "a deep sense of responsibility."

"I have consistently raised concerns that this amendment would force prosecutors to decide whether to indict based solely on investigation records, make it harder to protect victims, and create an inefficient structure that wastes time and resources," Koo said. "Yet none of those concerns were accepted, and the bill passed as written. I cannot hide how heartbroken and at a loss I feel."

Some observers expect the government to appoint a successor soon to oversee follow-up work on the revised law, but others say it will be difficult to steady an organization already shaken to its core with abolition looming. A prosecutor at a district prosecutors' office in the Seoul metropolitan area said by phone that Koo's resignation was an inevitable step. "There was nothing he could do throughout the abolition of the Prosecutors' Office and the revision of the Criminal Procedure Act, and there is nothing that will change going forward," the prosecutor said. "Prosecutors on the front lines are carrying out their remaining duties with a sense of resignation." The prosecutor added that the number of colleagues questioning whether to continue as prosecutors would only grow.

The prospect of a mass exodus is growing as front-line prosecutors, facing an increasingly uncertain future, translate their helplessness into decisions to leave. Since the Lee Jae Myung administration — which came to power on a platform of prosecutorial reform — took office, the so-called "rush to leave the prosecution" has accelerated. Monthly retirement statistics compiled by the Ministry of Justice over the past decade show that 212 prosecutors left the service in the 13 months from June last year through June this year, far outpacing departure rates under the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk Yeol administrations. With the latest amendment further curtailing prosecutors' authority, analysts expect the outflow to intensify.

A senior serving prosecutor noted that the elimination of supplementary investigation authority means prosecutors will have significantly less work once the new Public Prosecution Service launches. "We were not arguing for supplementary investigation powers for the sake of our own authority," the official said. "We argued that supplementary investigation was necessary to protect victims, even if it meant more work for prosecutors — but the Democratic Party refused to accept that to the end." The official added that once the new structure takes effect, prosecutors will essentially only need to request supplementary investigations, making the job far less demanding in practice. "Right now, many prosecutors are angry and frustrated," the official said, "but eventually they will grow numb as they get used to having little to do."