529 Applicants for Career Examination with 18:1 Competition Ratio... 30 Selected

Published 18 Mar.2024 15:05(KST)

Largest Ever Experienced Hire Recruitment

On the 18th, it was reported that 529 applicants applied for the experienced prosecutor recruitment, which the prosecution is promoting as a talent acquisition measure. The competition rate was 17.6 to 1. The 30 experienced prosecutors finally selected will be concentratedly assigned to 28 district prosecutors' offices and branch offices in areas such as the Central, Southern, Suwon, and Incheon offices, where strengthening investigative capabilities is urgent.

Although the prosecution, which had been pushed to the brink in handling cases, has taken a breather, the manpower shortage problem has not been completely resolved. The number of prosecutors is still far below the required personnel.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office plans to resolve the backlog of cases by increasing case assignments to the Important Economic Crime Investigation Unit (Junggyeongdan), composed of senior prosecutors with over 15 years of experience, to overcome this crisis.

This experienced prosecutor recruitment is the largest ever. Thanks to Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok's bold decision to skip the written exam, the threshold was lowered. Lawyers from large law firms, who had previously shown little interest, applied, and former prosecutors turned lawyers who wanted to return to the prosecution also found the courage to apply. The significant increase in the number of recruits from single digits to around 30 is also analyzed as a reason for the influx of talent. The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, which reformed the selection system, are expected to maintain the no-written-exam recruitment policy next year as well.

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

The number of prosecutors nationwide has been decreasing year by year. The number of prosecutors, which was 2,142 in 2022, decreased by 50 to 2,092 last year, and as of last month, 2,064 prosecutors are working. The number of retirees has reached 300 in the past two years. In 2022, 146 retired, and in 2023, 145 retired. This year alone, 33 prosecutors submitted their resignations by February.

While the number of prosecutors is decreasing, cases are becoming increasingly complex, and especially with the shift to a trial-centered system, the workload per prosecutor has doubled, according to views inside and outside the prosecution. Considering long-term unsolved cases, the current manpower is at its limit. The prosecution is implementing desperate measures such as reforming the experienced prosecutor recruitment system and assigning cases to Junggyeongdan within limited budgets and manpower. The Ministry of Justice proposed an amendment to the Prosecutor Quota Act in 2022, stating the need to increase the number of prosecutors, but it is still pending in the National Assembly due to difficulties in bipartisan agreement.