Prosecutors' Office Beyond Controversy... Accelerating Internal Reorganization

Deputy Director Appointment, Following Recruitment of Prosecutors and Investigators, Moves to Revise Related Laws

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (HCIC) is accelerating its organizational formation. With the Constitutional Court's ruling upholding the constitutionality of the HCIC Act, the unit has moved past controversies regarding its 'basis for existence,' easing burdens in appointing the deputy chief, hiring prosecutors and investigators, as well as revising internal regulations.

According to the legal community on the 29th, the HCIC, which recently announced personnel recruitment rules for prosecutors and investigators, has begun preparing follow-up regulations such as directives and ordinances. Following Director Kim Jin-wook's recommendation of lawyer Yeo Woon-guk as the HCIC deputy chief the day before, and with the recruitment of prosecutors and investigators set to begin next week, there is a need for legal grounds to guarantee these processes.

Internally, it is reported that regulations concerning approval authority and responsibility for decision-making, as well as service rules for public employees, have been established. An HCIC official explained, "All processes, including personnel recruitment, organizational restructuring, and work coordination, must be based on HCIC rules, directives, and ordinances. We plan to prepare fundamental regulations through legal consultation before the recruitment of the deputy chief, prosecutors, and investigators is completed and official activities commence."

The selection process for prosecutors and investigators is also speeding up. After the application period closes, discussions by the personnel committee will be necessary. HCIC prosecutors are appointed by the President upon recommendation from the HCIC Personnel Committee, which consists of seven members: the HCIC Director, the HCIC Deputy Director, one member appointed by the Director, two members recommended by the ruling party, and two members recommended by the opposition party. To this end, the HCIC plans to request the nomination of personnel committee members from the parliamentary negotiation groups as early as next week.

The appointment of the inaugural HCIC deputy chief will be decided by President Moon Jae-in upon Director Kim's recommendation. The day before, Director Kim recommended lawyer Yeo, a former judge, as the sole candidate. A graduate of Seoul National University Law School, lawyer Yeo began her judicial career in 1997 at the Daejeon District Court and served as a judge at the Suwon District Court, Seoul Central District Court, and Seoul High Court. She was also recommended by the Korean Bar Association as a successor to Supreme Court Justice Park Sang-ok, who is retiring in May. Lawyer Yeo is known to be a classmate of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl and Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye from the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

However, since both the Director and Deputy Director are former judges, the lack of investigative experience in the HCIC leadership is expected to become a new point of controversy. Initially, there was speculation that Director Kim, being a former judge, would recommend a former prosecutor as deputy chief, but he selected lawyer Yeo. In a briefing the day before, Director Kim explained, "Although lawyer Yeo has no direct experience participating in investigations, she served for a long time as a judge in charge of warrants, reviewing whether suspects should be detained, and is a legal professional who understands prosecution investigations well." A lawyer with a prosecution background predicted, "Having a leadership team composed of former judges to make final decisions on prosecution and non-prosecution, while appointing many prosecutors with rich investigative experience as frontline prosecutors, is expected to complement the unit."

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