Ministry of Justice Restores Prosecutor's Direct Investigation Functions and Department Names to Pre-Moon Jae-in Government Era

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon is attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 31st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Ministry of Justice is reviving the prosecution's direct investigation function, which had been limited to specific departments, and changing the name of the dedicated department.

According to the legal community on the 8th, the Ministry of Justice recently sent an official document containing the purpose and specific details of this prosecution organizational reform to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and frontline offices to gather opinions. A Ministry of Justice official explained, "During the previous administration, the authority of the Minister of Justice was excessively strengthened to block prosecution investigations, and we intend to reverse that."

First, the Ministry of Justice plans to abolish Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the "Regulations on the Organization of the Prosecutor's Office," which requires the Minister of Justice's approval when establishing a temporary investigation organization. This provision was created in 2020 during the tenure of former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae to reduce direct prosecution investigations, but it was criticized for allowing the minister to influence the composition of the investigation team from the early stages of the investigation.

The regulations restricting the work of the Criminal Division will also be reorganized. According to the current Regulations on the Organization of the Prosecutor's Office, the Criminal Division's assigned tasks are limited to ▲ cases referred or records sent by judicial police officers, ▲ economic crime complaints, and ▲ crimes committed by police officers. Investigations into important crimes stipulated in the Prosecutors' Office Act must be approved by the Prosecutor General and can only be conducted by the Criminal Division.

The Ministry of Justice views requiring prior approval from the Prosecutor General for all investigation initiation cases as inefficient and believes it causes delays in starting investigations and increases the risk of evidence destruction or suspect escape. Therefore, it plans to reorganize the Criminal Division's assigned tasks so that, as before, all Criminal Divisions can initiate investigations upon discovering clues to important crimes.

Efforts are also underway to restore the functions and department names of specialized frontline offices that were changed to Criminal Divisions. The Ministry of Justice pointed out that since October 2019, about 70% of direct investigation departments have been converted to Criminal Divisions or Trial Divisions, but these converted departments still perform the functions of the original specialized departments.

In this regard, considering the functions and responsibilities of each department, the Ministry plans to rebalance the departments under each Deputy Prosecutor General. For example, at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Criminal Division 10 will be renamed Public Investigation Division 3, Criminal Division 11 will become the International Crime Investigation Division, and Criminal Division 12 will be changed to the Information and Technology Crime Investigation Division. The Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Division will be reorganized into the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division, and the Violent Crime Division will be reinstated. The Trial Divisions will be evenly distributed under each Deputy Prosecutor General, and the Human Rights Protection Officer position will be abolished.

Besides the Central District Prosecutors' Office, department reorganizations will also be carried out to strengthen specialized departments and key prosecutors' offices by district. The Cyber Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office will become the Cyber Crime Investigation Division; the Tax Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office will be renamed the Tax Crime Investigation Division; and the Food and Drug Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office will be changed to the Food and Drug Crime Investigation Division.

The Foreign Affairs Crime Criminal Division of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office will become the International Crime Investigation Division; the Defense Industry and Industrial Technology Crime Criminal Division of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office will be renamed the Defense Industry and Industrial Technology Crime Investigation Division; the Public and Foreign Affairs Investigation Division of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office will be changed to the Public and International Crime Investigation Division; and the Violent Crime Criminal Division of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office will become the Violent Crime Investigation Division. Additionally, an Environmental Crime Investigation Division will be newly established at the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office.

The Ministry of Justice plans to complete the opinion gathering process, consult with the Ministry of Government Legislation and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and submit the proposal to the Cabinet meeting by the end of this month.

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