71 Applicants for Additional Public Corruption Investigation Office Prosecutors... 5 for Chief Prosecutor, 66 for Regular Prosecutor

Appointment Expected in October Following Interview Exams and Other Procedures

The plaque unveiling ceremony of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HCIO) received 71 applications in response to its recruitment announcement to fill 13 vacant HCIO prosecutor positions.

On the 22nd, the HCIO announced that during the application period from the 15th to the previous day, 5 candidates applied for the position of chief prosecutor, which has 2 openings, and 66 candidates applied for the rank-and-file prosecutor positions, which have 8 openings.

The HCIO plans to conduct document screening and interviews for three times the number of planned recruits. Subsequently, the HCIO Personnel Committee will convene to shortlist the final candidates to recommend to the President.

The HCIO stated, "The appointment process for HCIO prosecutors will proceed in the same order as in the first half of the year: announcement and application, document screening, interview, Personnel Committee recommendation, and presidential appointment. Appointments are expected to be made as early as October this year."

HCIO prosecutors serve a term of three years but can be reappointed up to three times. Compensation and treatment are stipulated by the HCIO Act to be in accordance with those of prosecutors.

According to the HCIO Act, HCIO prosecutors are appointed by the President upon recommendation by the Personnel Committee from among those who have held a lawyer's license for more than seven years. For chief prosecutors, the HCIO raised the eligibility criteria to those with more than 12 years of lawyer qualification.

Additionally, among the 25 HCIO prosecutors, including the chief and deputy chief, those who have previously held prosecutor positions cannot exceed half of the total quota.

Earlier, during the first public recruitment in February, there was a surge of applicants with a competition ratio exceeding 10 to 1, but only 13 were actually hired, failing to fill 10 of the quota. Among them, four were former prosecutors: Chief Prosecutor Kim Seong-mun, who took charge of Investigation Division 2, and prosecutors Kim Su-jeong, Kim Suk-jung, and Yesang-gyun.

As a result, Choi Seok-gyu, a former judge and head of the Public Prosecution Division, is currently also acting as the chief of Investigation Division 3.

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