New prosecution office to launch with 2,292 prosecutors, no investigative powers

The new Public Prosecution Service, which will replace the current prosecution office when it is dissolved Oct. 2, will be staffed by a total of 8,412 personnel, including 2,292 prosecutors.

With prosecutors stripped of their direct investigative powers, 43 direct-investigation units and 67 investigation and inquiry divisions at existing district offices will be abolished. In their place, 29 serious crimes dedicated units will be established to work alongside the new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which will handle major criminal cases. Each regional prosecution office will also receive a newly created judicial control division tasked with reviewing cases that police have declined to refer to prosecutors.

The Ministry of Justice said Friday it would open a legislative notice period through Wednesday on the proposed organizational structure for the Public Prosecution Service and its affiliated agencies, as well as amendments to the enforcement decree of the Prosecutors' Staffing Act. The ministry said the restructuring focuses on eliminating and consolidating direct-investigation units in line with the separation of investigative and prosecutorial functions, while strengthening cooperation with investigative agencies, oversight of non-referred cases, and functions related to sentence enforcement, trials and the recovery of criminal proceeds.

The total authorized headcount for the Public Prosecution Service is set at 8,412 — 2,292 prosecutors and 6,120 general staff. The organization will be structured across a central headquarters, regional prosecution offices, and district prosecution offices and branch offices. Headquarters will be led by a prosecutor general and one deputy, supported by six divisions, six bureaus and offices including a spokesperson, and 30 sections and units. Each of the six regional offices will have a director and deputy director, four divisions, six bureaus and 14 sections. The 18 district offices and 42 branch offices will together have 33 deputy directors, 221 divisions, 28 bureaus and 138 sections.

The existing prosecutorial structure will undergo sweeping changes to reflect the loss of investigative authority. The criminal intelligence planning office at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office — which analyzed and verified information related to crimes prosecutors could initiate investigations into — along with its two subordinate units, will be abolished entirely. The anti-corruption division and the narcotics and organized crime division will be merged into a single serious crimes division. As forensic field investigation functions transfer to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the prosecutor-general-level forensic science division and its four sections will be dissolved and replaced by a smaller deputy prosecutor general-level legal science planning office with three sections.

Changes at the district level are equally significant. The 43 intelligence and joint investigation units that primarily handled direct investigations will be abolished and consolidated into 29 serious crimes dedicated units, and all 67 investigation and inquiry sections will be eliminated. The position of fourth deputy prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecution Office — the successor to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office — and the second deputy prosecutor posts at the Daegu and Busan district prosecution offices will also be eliminated.

The serious crimes dedicated units will handle cooperation and support with the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and other investigative bodies. Five of the units will operate in direct correspondence with five joint investigation sections to be established within the agency. The units will offer legal assessments and opinions on evidence collection at the stages of investigation initiation and warrant application, and will continue to work with investigative agencies through case referral, indictment and trial. When a joint investigation team is formed for cases of major national or social significance, the serious crimes dedicated units at the relevant prosecution offices may be designated as the lead units under applicable regulations.

Judicial oversight of police and other investigative agencies will be handled by a dedicated organizational unit. The judicial control divisions to be established at each district prosecution office will exclusively review cases in which police determined there were no grounds for charges and declined to refer them to prosecutors. In place of the abolished supplementary investigation power, the divisions will use the fact-finding procedure introduced in the revised Code of Criminal Procedure — gathering opinions from suspects, parties to cases, experts and judicial police officers — to determine whether to demand reinvestigation. The divisions will also handle decisions on whether to seek the removal from duty or disciplinary action of officers who, without justifiable cause, fail to comply with demands for supplementary investigation or corrective measures.

The organizational capacity to handle everyday criminal cases will also be expanded. A deputy prosecutor general-level criminal planning officer post will be created within the criminal division at headquarters, and cooperation with special judicial police will be managed by a dedicated special judicial police cooperation section. The ministry said the changes are designed to improve the response to general criminal cases — which account for 94 percent of all cases — and to systematize prosecutors' advisory and guidance role over special judicial police.