'Prosecutor Personnel Committee' Held... Will Promotions for High Prosecutors and Chief Prosecutors Be Announced?

‘Deputy Prosecutor General’ and Others Likely to Fill Vacant High Prosecutor Positions
Judicial Research and Training Institute Classes 27 & 28 Eligible for Promotion to High Prosecutor

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Ministry of Justice's Prosecution Personnel Committee will be held on the 19th. At the committee meeting, personnel changes for ordinary prosecutors effective from the 6th of next month, as well as appointments for vacant positions at the level of chief prosecutors and above, and some mid-level managerial positions are expected to be discussed.

The key point to watch in this personnel reshuffle is whether the vacant positions of Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, Chief Prosecutor of Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office, Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, and Director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Ministry of Justice will be filled. Filling these positions will inevitably trigger a chain of transfers, so there is also a possibility of a minor promotion of chief prosecutors.

It is widely expected that mid-level managerial personnel such as deputy chiefs and department heads will be appointed only to fill a few recently resigned positions. Since it has been less than a year since the last regular personnel reshuffle, conducting another large-scale reshuffle would only cause organizational confusion, making it unlikely.

Replacing the leadership while major investigations are ongoing essentially implies a disciplinary personnel change, so a large-scale reshuffle is expected to be difficult. Rather, additional personnel are likely to be deployed to the investigation teams at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Seongnam Branch Office, which are conducting investigations related to allegations surrounding Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. It is expected that key investigation team members will remain in place in the upcoming ordinary prosecutor personnel reshuffle.

However, it is possible that the vacant positions at the level of chief prosecutors, which cannot be left unfilled for long, will be filled in this reshuffle. In particular, there is growing analysis that the long-vacant Deputy Chief Prosecutor position at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office will be filled in this personnel change.

Since it is practically impossible for the Prosecutor General to be involved in the reporting or command of all cases, the role of the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is important. Following the precedent that the Prosecutor General does not appear before the National Assembly except for the National Assembly inspection, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor must attend the National Assembly on behalf of the Prosecutor General to represent and explain the prosecution's position.

For this reason, it is common for a person who works well with the Prosecutor General to be appointed as the Deputy Chief Prosecutor. Since this position supports the Prosecutor General, it is expected that the promotion will be from the 28th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, one year junior to Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, rather than his classmates.

If appointments for chief prosecutors are made, members of the 27th and 28th classes of the Judicial Research and Training Institute are expected to fill those positions. Due to the chain transfers following the promotion to chief prosecutor, the 29th and 30th classes are expected to be promoted to chief prosecutors.

A department head prosecutor A said, "This personnel reshuffle will mainly focus on ordinary prosecutors, and other appointments will be minor, just filling vacant positions," adding, "Filling the Deputy Chief Prosecutor position at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is more urgent than filling frontline chief prosecutor positions."

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