Prosecutors' Office Faces Mounting Challenges: 'Additional Prosecutor Appointments,' 'Referral Conflicts,' and 'Political Neutrality'...

Only 4 of 15 Prosecutors Are Former Prosecutors... Concerns Raised Over Investigation Capability
Restoring Public Trust in the Damaged 'Political Neutrality' Is the Biggest Issue

Director Kim Jin-wook of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency. / Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA), officially launched on January 21, has completed the minimum organizational structure necessary to commence its first investigation by selecting 13 HCIA prosecutors within three months.

Earlier, HCIA Chief Kim Jin-wook had announced the start of the "No. 1 case" investigation in April. Moreover, a month has passed since the HCIA received the case involving Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won's alleged "false preparation and media leak of the Yoon Joong-chun interview report" from the prosecution, but the agency has delayed deciding whether to investigate directly or re-transfer the case. Therefore, it is expected that the investigation of the "No. 1 case" will soon begin.

However, since only 60% (15 out of 25, including the chief and deputy chief) of the total HCIA prosecutor positions have been filled, and only four of them have prior investigative experience, concerns have been raised about whether "normal investigations can be conducted immediately" and about the HCIA's investigative capabilities.

Additionally, restoring public trust in the HCIA's "political neutrality," which has been damaged by controversies such as the "emperor escort" of Seoul Central District Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon and the "preferential hiring" of Chief Kim's secretary, as well as resolving the power struggle with the prosecution triggered by the "prosecution authority reserved transfer" involving Prosecutor Lee and Chief Lee, are urgent tasks for the HCIA.

Among 15 HCIA prosecutors, only 4 have prosecutorial backgrounds... Concerns raised over investigation speed and efficiency

According to the HCIA on the 18th, Chief Kim said at the HCIA prosecutor appointment ceremony held privately on the 16th, "Let us dedicate ourselves to our duties with the attitude of 'Hosiuhang (虎視牛行),' focusing solely on the people within the given authority."

The phrase Hosiuhang, meaning "keeping the eyes of a tiger while walking like an ox," refers to maintaining a sharp perspective on the world while acting steadily and persistently like an ox.

Given the various controversies and concerns surrounding the HCIA in its early stages, this can be seen as a request for the newly appointed HCIA prosecutors to quietly fulfill their responsibilities.

President Moon Jae-in approved 13 HCIA prosecutor candidates recommended by the HCIA Personnel Committee on the 15th and appointed them effective the 16th.

Although the exact number of candidates recommended by the HCIA Personnel Committee, chaired by Chief Kim, to the president has not been disclosed, it is known that approximately 17 to 19 candidates were recommended.

According to Article 8 of the HCIA Act, the HCIA can have up to 25 prosecutors, including the chief and deputy chief. However, those who have held prosecutorial positions cannot exceed half of the total number.

The HCIA intended to select 23 prosecutors, excluding the already appointed Chief Kim and Deputy Chief Yeo Woon-guk, but only 13 prosecutors, including two senior prosecutors, were actually appointed.

Considering that 40 candidates applied for the four senior prosecutor positions and 193 applied for the 19 prosecutor positions, resulting in competition ratios exceeding 10 to 1, the final number of successful candidates is extremely low.

The HCIA conducted interviews after passing all applicants who met certain qualifications, such as "holding a lawyer's license for more than 12 years" for senior prosecutors and "holding a lawyer's license for more than 7 years" for prosecutors, out of 233 applicants.

Among the 216 who passed the document screening, interviews were conducted with 37 senior prosecutor applicants and 172 prosecutor applicants. Some candidates withdrew or forfeited the interview midway, so the actual interviews were conducted with 32 senior prosecutor applicants and 168 prosecutor applicants.

However, the fact that the HCIA Personnel Committee recommended fewer candidates than the 23 positions available and that some candidates recommended were not approved by the president suggests that, despite the large number of applicants, there were fewer candidates with investigative experience than expected, and many candidates were found problematic during background and reputation checks.

Among the 13 appointed this time, only four prosecutors have actual investigative experience: Senior Prosecutor Kim Seong-moon (54, Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 29), who served as head of the Foreign Affairs Division at Busan District Prosecutors' Office and head of the Trial Division at Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office; Prosecutor Kim Su-jeong (45, Class 30), who last served at Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office in 2010 before opening a law practice; Prosecutor Yeo Sang-gyun (45, Class 30), who left the prosecution in 2014 after serving at Incheon District Prosecutors' Office and became a professor at Yeungnam University Law School; and Prosecutor Kim Sook-jung (41, 1st Bar Exam), a law school graduate who last served at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Ansan Branch in 2017 before opening a law practice.

Since both Chief Kim and Deputy Chief Yeo are former judges, up to 12 prosecutors with prosecutorial backgrounds can be appointed as HCIA prosecutors, but only one-third have been appointed so far. The rest are mostly lawyers from large law firms, except for some public institution lawyers from the Financial Supervisory Service and the Board of Audit and Inspection.

A former chief prosecutor turned lawyer, Mr. A, said, "Investigating crimes involving high-ranking officials is more difficult than ordinary complaints and accusations, and the defense by suspects is inevitably strong. Given the shortage of prosecutors with investigative experience, it is questionable whether efficient investigations are possible. Especially since both the chief and deputy chief, who must outline the entire investigation and make important decisions such as suspect custody, lack investigative experience, and most HCIA prosecutors are lawyers without prosecutorial backgrounds, the speed and efficiency of investigations will inevitably decline."

The HCIA plans to fill the remaining 10 prosecutor positions (including two senior prosecutors) through additional recruitment procedures. Attention is focused on how many prosecutors with prosecutorial backgrounds will be selected. Among the 15 appointed so far, 11 are non-prosecutor lawyers, so up to eight prosecutors with prosecutorial backgrounds can still be appointed under the HCIA Act.

Resolving conflicts with prosecution over 'case transfer' is difficult... Constitutional Court's unconstitutionality review and jurisdiction dispute possible

Meanwhile, conflicts with the prosecution over the "scope of case transfer" are also difficult to resolve.

Chief Kim previously re-transferred the case involving Seoul Central District Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon and Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won back to the prosecution with a so-called "prosecution authority reserved transfer," stating, "We will prosecute, so finish the investigation and send the case back to the HCIA."

Chief Kim argued that, based on the legal maxim "the greater includes the lesser," the HCIA has the authority to transfer the entire case to the prosecution, so it naturally can separate and transfer only the investigative authority. However, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, which received the re-transfer, rebutted this as a "bizarre and unheard-of logic" and ignored Chief Kim's request for a second re-transfer, proceeding to prosecute Prosecutor Lee.

Initially, the court assigned to Prosecutor Lee's case may issue a "dismissal of prosecution" ruling, questioning the prosecution's authority, or proceed with the trial under the premise that the prosecution, having received the case again from the HCIA, naturally holds the prosecution authority, which will lead to an interpretation of the HCIA Act's "transfer" provisions.

Meanwhile, the HCIA attempted to establish internal regulations explicitly granting the "reserved transfer" authority, but due to explicit opposition from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and constitutional concerns that it exceeds the delegation scope of higher laws, it is reportedly considering legislative measures.

Since the ruling party holds a majority in the National Assembly, it cannot be ruled out that the "prosecution authority reserved transfer" by the HCIA chief may be codified through legislation or amendment. However, this could lead to constitutional court unconstitutionality reviews or jurisdiction disputes, intensifying conflicts with the prosecution.

Restoring 'political neutrality' damaged by 'emperor escort'... the most serious issue

Above all, the most serious issue is the damage to "political neutrality."

Before the HCIA even began its first investigation, Chief Kim faced embarrassment after it was revealed that he used his official vehicle and had his secretary drive to provide an "emperor escort" for Prosecutor Lee, who was a suspect, to the HCIA.

When an investigative agency summons a suspect whose case has been transferred from the prosecution to the HCIA, it should be considered a summons for investigation. However, Chief Kim gave ambiguous statements about whether it was an investigation or an interview and did not record any details of the meeting with Prosecutor Lee, fueling controversy.

Chief Kim's request to re-transfer the case to the prosecution while reserving prosecution authority after the meeting with Prosecutor Lee was also seen as casting doubt on the "fairness of the investigation," largely influenced by this "emperor investigation."

Furthermore, the preferential hiring controversy of the secretary revealed by the "emperor escort" issue sparked allegations of Chief Kim's "political bias."

Kim, Chief Kim's secretary who drove Prosecutor Lee to the HCIA in the official vehicle, passed the bar exam in April last year and was specially hired as the HCIA chief's secretary in January this year.

Given that Kim had less than one year of experience as a lawyer before being specially hired as the HCIA chief's secretary, the background of this appointment is subject to suspicion. It was revealed that Kim is a junior alumnus of former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae at Hanyang University Law School, and Kim's father is also a junior alumnus and a Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 14 peer of former Minister Choo.

Notably, Kim's father also applied for candidacy with the Democratic Party in the June 13, 2018 local elections, when former Minister Choo exercised nomination rights.

Kim was reportedly recommended as secretary by former Korean Bar Association President Lee Chan-hee. Lee previously recommended Chief Kim, who was a senior researcher at the Constitutional Court, as the first HCIA chief candidate and participated in the final recommendation of Chief Kim as the candidate in December last year, excluding opposition party HCIA chief candidate recommendation committee members.

The HCIA initially explained that Kim was recommended by the Korean Bar Association. However, the Korean Bar Association denied this, and it was ultimately confirmed that former President Lee personally recommended Kim after receiving a phone request from Chief Kim.

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