Prosecutor General's Office Revives 'Direct Report to Superior'... District Prosecutors Also Report Directly to Prosecutor General Without Middle-Level Review

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The system in which the Prosecutor General receives direct reports on investigations and case handling from heads of local prosecution offices nationwide, including branch offices, without going through the Supreme Prosecutors' Office leadership, is being reinstated. It has been about two years since this system was last in place.

According to the legal community on the 17th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office established and implemented guidelines on the operation status reporting of local prosecution offices starting from the 9th.

According to these guidelines, chief prosecutors of high prosecutors' offices, district prosecutors' offices, and branch offices nationwide are required to report quarterly to the Prosecutor General on investigations, case handling, and trial situations at each local prosecution office.

Typically, investigation or case handling statuses conducted at branch or district prosecutors' offices were reported to the Prosecutor General through the high prosecutors' offices or the Supreme Prosecutors' Office leadership. However, with the implementation of these guidelines, not only local chief prosecutors but also small branch office chiefs at the level of senior prosecutors can now report investigation statuses directly to the Prosecutor General without passing through intermediate command lines.

Chief prosecutors of high prosecutors' offices, district prosecutors' offices, and branch offices will submit reports in envelopes marked as 'Prosecutor General's personal letter,' indicating that the Prosecutor General personally requested them, to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Reports are submitted in writing during the designated month each quarter.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office explained that this effectively revives the 'supervisory reports' that local prosecution offices used to submit to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in the past. Supervisory reports to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office were abolished in October 2019 as part of institutional reforms shortly after former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol took office.

The Prosecutor General's personal letter reports differ from the face-to-face reports to the Prosecutor General, which were reinstated in June, in that all local offices nationwide, including branch offices, regularly submit them without exception. The revival of the Prosecutor General's personal letter reports is interpreted as an effort to strengthen the Prosecutor General's command authority over local offices.

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