Ministry of Justice Holds Prosecution Personnel Committee Meeting... Focus on Appointment of Investigation Command Line for Major Cases

Tomorrow, 'Organizational Restructuring Plan' to be Submitted to Cabinet Meeting... Personnel Announcement as Early as 25th, No Later Than 28th
Criminal and Trial Division Veterans Likely to Be Favored Over Special Agents... Possibility of Resignation Wave Due to Backlash

On the 9th of last month, reporters were waiting for Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae in front of the Ministry of Justice in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. / Gwacheon - Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] As the mid-level prosecutor personnel reshuffle reflecting the Ministry of Justice's prosecution organization reform approaches, the replacement of the investigation command lines in several cases suspected to be linked to regime personnel is drawing intense attention.

On the morning of the 24th, the Ministry of Justice held a Prosecutor Personnel Committee meeting at the Government Complex Gwacheon to discuss promotion and transfer plans for mid-level prosecutors at the senior prosecutor level. If the amendment to the 'Prosecutor Quota Act Enforcement Decree' and the 'Regulations on the Organization of the Prosecutor's Office,' which include measures to abolish four senior prosecutor positions at the Deputy Chief Prosecutor level in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, pass the Cabinet meeting on the 25th, the mid-level personnel reshuffle is expected to be announced as early as the 25th or by the 28th at the latest.

According to the organizational reform, four Deputy Chief Prosecutor-level positions in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office?Investigation Information Policy Officer, Public Investigation Policy Officer, Forensic Investigation Planning Officer, and Senior Researcher of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Division?will be eliminated in this reshuffle. Instead, two new positions at the Deputy Chief Prosecutor level, Human Rights Policy Officer and Criminal Policy Officer, will be established directly under the Deputy Chief Prosecutor.

In the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, where various important investigations are underway, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division responsible for preliminary investigations will move under the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor. The Public Security Investigation Division, previously under the 2nd Deputy Chief Prosecutor, will be transferred under the 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor.

Attention is focused on who will be appointed as the Head of the Criminal Division 1, who must conclude the investigation into Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon related to the 'media collusion suspicion case,' the Head of the Criminal Division 2, who will investigate the 'former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's alleged leak of accusation facts case,' and the 1st Deputy Chief Prosecutor who will command these investigations. Inside and outside the prosecution, there is speculation about the possible promotion of Kim Wook-jun, the current 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor who led the investigation into the 'Nth Room case.'

The appointments of the 3rd and 2nd Deputy Chief Prosecutors, who will respectively command the investigations into the 'Blue House Ulsan Mayor election interference suspicion case' (Public Investigation Division 2) and the 'Optimus case' (Investigation Division 1), which involve current government personnel, are also of interest. In particular, attention is on whether Kim Tae-eun, the current Head of Public Investigation Division 2 who has been in charge of the Ulsan Mayor investigation, will face a demotion-type transfer.

For the 4th Deputy Chief Prosecutor, who will command special and preliminary investigations into corruption involving politicians and large conglomerate chairpersons, candidates include Hyung Jin-hwi, a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office from Judicial Research and Training Institute class 29; Oh Hyun-chul, Head of Investigation Division 1 at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office; and Kim Hyung-geun, Head of Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Lee Bok-hyun, Head of the Economic Crime Criminal Division who has been investigating the case of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, is expected to conclude the investigation and be reassigned to another post before the personnel announcement.

Additionally, attention is on who will be appointed as the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, currently investigating the 'vacation non-return case of Minister Choo Mi-ae's son,' and the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, investigating the 'Justice Memory Solidarity accounting fraud case' involving Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang.

In this reshuffle, in line with the Ministry of Justice's prosecution reform policy, prosecutors with extensive experience in criminal and trial divisions are expected to be favored over so-called special investigation prosecutors. Following the previous appointment of senior prosecutors, if pro-government prosecutors are again appointed to key positions in this reshuffle, there is speculation that special investigation prosecutors, who have been considered frontrunners within their cohorts, may submit mass resignations.

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