Ministry of Justice Holds Prosecutor Personnel Committee Today... Discussing Personnel Criteria Ahead of Large-Scale Personnel Changes

Park Beom-gye "There is a personnel bottleneck... Need to thoroughly review the entire position system"

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 25th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 27th, the Ministry of Justice will hold a Prosecutor Personnel Committee meeting to discuss the principles and standards of personnel appointments.

With Kim Oh-soo, the nominee for Prosecutor General, expected to be appointed, Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is anticipated to soon carry out a personnel reshuffle of senior prosecutors. This personnel reshuffle is expected to be broader than ever, coinciding with the reorganization of the prosecution.

The Ministry of Justice will hold the Prosecutor Personnel Committee at the Government Complex Gwacheon in the afternoon to deliberate on promotion and transfer personnel standards.

The Prosecutor Personnel Committee, which reviews important matters related to the appointment, transfer, and other personnel issues of prosecutors, consists of 11 members appointed or commissioned by the Minister of Justice. The chairperson is also appointed or commissioned by the Minister from among the members.

The members include ▲ three prosecutors (at least one being a rank-and-file prosecutor) ▲ two judges recommended by the Chief of the Court Administration Office ▲ two lawyers recommended by the President of the Korean Bar Association ▲ one law professor recommended by the President of the Korean Association of Law Professors ▲ one law professor recommended by the President of the Association of Law Schools ▲ and two individuals with academic knowledge, integrity, and extensive experience in various professional fields who do not hold lawyer qualifications.

The Prosecutor Personnel Committee deliberates on ▲ the establishment of basic plans for prosecution personnel administration and amendments or abolition of related laws ▲ principles and standards for appointment and transfer of prosecutors ▲ matters related to case evaluations by prosecutors, including acquittal cases or socially notable cases requested for review by at least one-third of the members ▲ and other personnel matters requested for review by the Minister of Justice. Judge members recommended by the Chief of the Court Administration Office participate only in deliberations regarding the appointment of new prosecutors. Decisions are made by a majority vote of the members present.

Typically, prosecution personnel appointments are announced on the day of or the day after the Prosecutor Personnel Committee meeting. However, this time, instead of discussing specific personnel proposals, the committee is expected to discuss overall principles and standards for personnel appointments.

Discussions on specific personnel proposals will be conducted separately after the inauguration of the Prosecutor General through consultations between Minister Park and the new Prosecutor General.

Minister Park stated on the 25th, "The Prosecutor Personnel Committee is a place to decide principles and standards, not to deliberate on specific individuals," and added that once the Prosecutor General nominee is appointed, there will be a public and official procedure to hear opinions.

On the morning of the same day, while heading to the Ministry of Justice Gwacheon office, Minister Park responded to questions from the press regarding personnel by saying, "There is some personnel congestion. Due to various difficulties related to the position system, it seems the time has come to conduct an overall review."

Recently, the Ministry of Justice sent an official letter to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to collect opinions from frontline prosecution offices on a prosecution reorganization plan, which includes merging the existing Violent Crimes Division with the Anti-Corruption Division, and establishing new departments such as the Investigation Cooperation Department and the Human Rights Protection Department. The reorganization plan also includes maintaining the existing Financial Investigation Division at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office while establishing a Financial Securities Crime Investigation Cooperation Unit to facilitate organic investigative cooperation with the police and others.

Since Minister Park's inauguration, the senior prosecutor personnel reshuffle carried out in February saw Jo Jong-tae, then Chuncheon District Prosecutor, transferred to the vacant position of Director of Planning and Coordination at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office amid controversy over bypassing Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Shin Hyun-soo and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. Additionally, Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Ministry of Justice's Prosecution Bureau, and Lee Jeong-soo, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, simply swapped positions.

At that time, except for the Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, all frontline senior prosecutors and chief prosecutors were retained without promotions, and with the prosecution reorganization underway, the scale of this personnel reshuffle is inevitably expected to be larger than ever.

However, the fact that nominee Kim, who is three years senior in the Judicial Research and Training Institute compared to the previous Prosecutor General, was nominated as the Prosecutor General candidate means that the need for senior prosecutors who lost the competition to voluntarily retire has relatively decreased, which remains a variable.

The leadership line of frontline prosecution offices responsible for investigations related to the current administration and prosecutors classified as pro-government who hold key positions remain points of interest regarding where they will be reassigned in this personnel reshuffle.

Lee Seong-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who was considered the top candidate for Prosecutor General, has been indicted as a defendant on charges of exerting external pressure on the investigation of the "Kim Hak-eui illegal deportation" case. Attention is focused on whether he will be retained once again as Chief Prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors' Office, promoted to a frontline senior prosecutor position, or assigned to a relatively less important post in this personnel reshuffle.

Meanwhile, ahead of the personnel reshuffle, Jeon Jun-cheol, Chief Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Justice the day before. As a core member of Lee Seong-yoon's faction and trusted by the Chief Prosecutor, Jeon had a clash with Lee last year over differing opinions regarding the assignment of the Yoon Prosecutor General's family case.

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