Ministry of Justice Overhauls Prosecution Organization... "Anti-Corruption Investigation Division and Violent Crimes Division Merged"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Ministry of Justice has reportedly begun a 'prosecutorial organization reform' that consolidates the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division (formerly the Special Investigation Division) and the Violent Crimes Division, and establishes a new department for investigative cooperation with the police. This is interpreted as an effort to reduce the prosecution's direct investigation functions while strengthening human rights protection and expanding cooperation with the police.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Ministry of Justice recently sent an official letter to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office requesting opinions on the prosecutorial organization reform, and is currently collecting feedback from various district prosecutors' offices.

The letter includes plans to merge the Violent Crimes Division of each district prosecutor's office with the Anti-Corruption Division to form an Anti-Corruption and Violent Crimes Division that handles corruption crime investigations, and to establish an Investigation Cooperation Department for organic investigative collaboration with the police, as well as a Human Rights Protection Department to strengthen human rights safeguards.

Additionally, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office is expected to establish a Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Cooperation Unit to respond to financial and securities crime investigations. This cooperation unit is likely to be formed as a 'joint investigation team' that strengthens collaboration among prosecutors, judicial police, and special judicial police.

Previously, former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae abolished the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team (Joint Investigation Team) shortly after taking office in January last year, labeling it a 'hotbed of corruption.' The Joint Investigation Team was a non-regular organization where specialized personnel from the Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, National Tax Service, and others were frequently dispatched to analyze securities crime data and support investigations alongside prosecutors.

Each district prosecutor's office is expected to submit the results of their internal opinion collection to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office within this month.

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