Ministry of Justice to Increase Prosecutor Research Fellows at Judicial Research and Training Institute by 5... Legislative Notice Published Today in Official Gazette

Beommuyonsuwon, Jincheon-gun, Chungbuk.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Ministry of Justice has announced a legislative notice to amend the Ministry of Justice Ordinance to increase the number of prosecutors serving as research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute by five.

Shortly after his inauguration, on the 18th of last month, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon demoted several senior prosecutors at the level of chief prosecutor or higher, including Lee Seong-yoon, then head of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, and Lee Jeong-soo, then head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who had been classified as pro-government prosecutors under the previous administration, to the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

During this process, since the quota for prosecutors serving as research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute was full, Lee Jong-geun, chief prosecutor of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, was transferred to the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office as deputy chief prosecutor and then dispatched to work at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Meanwhile, Jeong Jin-ung, a research fellow at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, was assigned as a prosecutor at the Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office while maintaining his position as a research fellow at the institute.

Some interpret this increase in the number of prosecutor research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute by the Ministry of Justice as a preparatory measure for additional demotions in upcoming personnel reshuffles.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Justice published a notice in the official gazette announcing the legislative notice for partial amendments to the "Enforcement Rules of the Organization of the Ministry of Justice and Its Affiliated Agencies," a Ministry of Justice Ordinance.

In the notice, the Ministry of Justice stated, "To strengthen research functions for improving legal administrative services, we will increase the number of research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute by five (five prosecutors)."

In the statement of reasons for the amendment, the Ministry of Justice explained, "Among the Ministry of Justice's affiliated agencies, the Judicial Research and Training Institute requires an increase of five research fellows to modernize legal administration and revise legislation in line with global standards, enhance international criminal justice cooperation, and strengthen research functions."

The proposed amendment changes the total number of officials at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Appendix 6 of the Enforcement Rules from 134 to 139, the number of prosecutors from 14 to 19, and the number of prosecutors classified as 3 to 8. The existing 11 prosecutor professors remain unchanged.

Research fellows at the Judicial Research and Training Institute are responsible for research on important legal policies such as crime prevention and response measures, criminal policy, and correctional administration, as well as training of Ministry of Justice officials and promotion of international criminal justice cooperation.

Since this position excludes direct investigation or command duties, it is considered a typical "backwater" within the prosecution and a "place of exile" where demoted senior officials are assigned.

Article 18, Paragraph 1 of the Presidential Decree "Organization of the Ministry of Justice and Its Affiliated Agencies" states, "The institute shall have up to seven research fellows to be responsible for research on fundamental crime prevention and response measures, other important criminal policies, correctional administration, training of Ministry of Justice officials, and promotion of international criminal justice cooperation."

Paragraph 2 of the same article states, "Among the research fellows, four shall be regarded as general service officials or prosecutors belonging to the Senior Executive Service, and up to three research fellows shall be appointed by the Minister of Justice on a non-standing basis from among those qualified as professors, associate professors, or assistant professors under Article 16 of the Higher Education Act, or foreign judges, prosecutors, or lawyers."

The four research fellow positions that prosecutors can hold were all filled in last month's personnel reshuffle by Minister Han, including former Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Chief Lee Seong-yoon, former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Lee Jeong-soo, former Public Investigation Department Head at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Lee Jeong-hyun, and former Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Chief Shim Jae-cheol.

After completing the amendment of the enforcement ordinance following the legislative notice, the Ministry of Justice is expected to carry out additional personnel reshuffles in the prosecution soon.

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