Ministry of Justice Announces Prosecution Organization Reform Plan...Abolishment of 13 Direct Investigation Departments

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The Ministry of Justice announced a reorganization plan to abolish 13 direct investigation divisions of the prosecution, operating 10 of them as criminal divisions and 3 as trial divisions.

On the afternoon of the 13th, the Ministry of Justice announced a plan to downsize the prosecution's direct investigation departments and expand the criminal and trial divisions, and stated that it will pursue amendments to the presidential decree "Regulations on the Organization of the Prosecutor's Office." The Ministry explained that this is to focus on investigating and maintaining prosecutions related to everyday life and civil cases.

According to the reorganization plan, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will be reduced from 4 to 2, and the Public Investigation Division will be reduced from 3 to 2. Among the Public Investigation Divisions of 7 key district prosecutors' offices including 2 in Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Incheon, Suwon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, and Gwangju, 5 out of 8 divisions will be abolished.

The Foreign Affairs Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will be converted into a criminal division, leaving Foreign Affairs Divisions only in Incheon and Busan District Prosecutors' Offices. The General Affairs Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office will also be changed to a trial division.

The Tax Crime Investigation Division and Science and Technology Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as well as the Food and Drug Investigation Division of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, will be replaced by criminal divisions. The Seoul Northern and Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Offices will be designated as specialized prosecutors' offices focusing on tax and science and technology cases, respectively, and will be exclusively responsible for related cases.

The non-statutory Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office will also be converted into a trial division. Existing cases are expected to be reassigned to the Financial Investigation Divisions 1 and 2 of the same prosecutors' office.

Separately, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae is expected to carry out a mid-level personnel reshuffle in the prosecution as early as this week. It is widely anticipated that many mid-level officials in the investigation teams handling the Blue House ordered investigations, election interference allegations, and cases related to former Justice Minister Cho Kuk will be replaced.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.