[The Editors' Verdict] Court and Prosecution Personnel Must Be Normalized

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, legal affairs specialist] There is a saying, "Personnel is everything," but no organization is more sensitive about personnel matters than the courts and prosecution. Everyone grew up hearing they were good students, passed the notoriously difficult bar exam, and even after that, had to rank within the top 100 to 200 out of 1,000 at the Judicial Research and Training Institute to be appointed as judges or prosecutors. Of course, now with the introduction of law schools and the change to the bar exam, it remains equally difficult to be appointed as a judge or prosecutor.

As a proud elite group, competition for promotion among peers is fierce, and it is not uncommon for those who fall behind younger cohorts to resign. Therefore, based on training institute grades and proven abilities in trials or investigations, most members recognized as aces have held key positions. Although there were exceptions, the basic principles of personnel management were still observed.

However, this government has used personnel appointments as a tool for prosecutorial and judicial reform, breaking down these personnel standards.

The appointment of Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo, who is not a former Supreme Court Justice, to the head of the judiciary was unprecedented. After Kim’s appointment, members of the Uri Law Research Association and the International Human Rights Law Research Association, which he chaired, began to occupy key positions in the courts. Certain judges with specific leanings who handled sensitive cases related to the administration broke the court’s personnel customs and were reappointed. In the recent personnel reshuffle, judges from these two associations were appointed to major court chief positions. The “court chief recommendation system,” introduced as part of judicial administrative reform, is also criticized as a tool for “code personnel” appointments by Chief Justice Kim to select people who suit his preferences.

The prosecution is in an even more serious state. After Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party’s presidential candidate, became the “other side” following the investigation of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk during his tenure as Prosecutor General, former Minister of Justice Chu Mi-ae systematically sidelined the special prosecutors favored by Yoon and appointed a large number of compliant prosecutors classified as “pro-government” to key positions.

Since then, the first criterion for personnel appointments has become whether one is “on my side” or “on your side.” Prosecutors who investigated cases related to the administration according to principles were invariably demoted or forced to leave the prosecution in the next personnel reshuffle, while those who conducted superficial investigations and non-prosecution decisions on administration-related cases or took the lead in disciplining candidate Yoon on former Minister Chu’s side mostly received promotions.

Representative examples include Kim Kwan-jung, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon High Prosecutors’ Office, who was promoted to high prosecutor first among his peers after closing former Minister Chu’s son’s “military leave non-return” case as “no charges” during his time as Chief of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office; Lee Sung-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office; and Park Eun-jung, who was promoted from the Ministry of Justice’s Inspection Officer to Chief Prosecutor of Seongnam Branch, considered the “top priority” for promotion.

The Ministry of Justice’s personnel appointments are also problematic. Under the pretext of “de-prosecutorization” of the Ministry of Justice, external personnel were appointed to key positions previously held by chief prosecutors, but their expertise was lacking and only political bias was revealed. Although the appointments were made through external recruitment, most appointees were lawyers from pro-government organizations such as the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) or the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. Former Human Rights Director Hwang Hee-seok from Minbyun, former Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu from the Uri Law Research Association, and former Director of Immigration and Foreign Policy Cha Gyu-geun are all non-prosecutors.

The result of “divide-and-rule” personnel appointments that ignore ability and “parachute” appointments has been disastrous.

Former Deputy Minister Lee is on trial for assaulting a taxi driver, while Chief Prosecutor Lee and former Director Cha are on trial for the “Kim Hak-eui illegal deportation” case. Prosecutor Jeong Jin-ung, who was promoted to Deputy Chief Prosecutor while under investigation for abuse of authority, was eventually indicted and convicted. Chief Prosecutor Park became the subject of an investigation after being reported for blocking the investigation into the “Seongnam FC sponsorship” case involving Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate.

The “Seongnam FC” case, which the police dragged on for 3 years and 3 months before deciding “no charges,” was transferred to the prosecution following the complainant’s objection, but under the direction of Shin Sung-sik, Chief Prosecutor of Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office and a law school alumnus of Lee and pro-government figure, and Park’s decision, it was sent back to the police.

As personnel principles collapse, the organization has deteriorated, and public trust in trials and investigations has significantly declined. No matter how many laws are changed or new systems created, the organization will not be reformed unless the broken personnel system is normalized.

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