Incumbent Prosecutor Requests Constitutional Adjudication Over "Major Crimes Investigation Agency, Prosecution Agency, and Judicial Distortion Offense Unconstitutionality"

An incumbent prosecutor has requested a constitutional adjudication from the Constitutional Court, claiming that the establishment of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency and the Prosecution Agency, as well as the introduction of a new criminal offense for judicial distortion, are unconstitutional.

According to the legal community on May 21, Song Yeongyu, a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, filed a request for a constitutional adjudication with the Constitutional Court on May 11 regarding the Act on the Organization and Operation of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency (the Major Crimes Investigation Agency Act), the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Prosecution Agency (the Prosecution Agency Act), and the proposed amendment to the Criminal Act (introducing the judicial distortion offense).

On the 1st, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office building seen through the sculpture at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, where Prosecutor General Shim Woojung expressed his intention to resign after only nine months in office, appeared distorted. The Special Investigation for Treason plans to investigate Prosecutor General Shim Woojung on charges including abuse of authority after he immediately gave up on the appeal following the cancellation of the arrest warrant for former President Yoon Seokyoul. July 1, 2025 Photo by Dongju Yoon

It is reported that in the petition submitted by Prosecutor Song, he claims that the legislative actions of the National Assembly have infringed upon the prosecution’s constitutionally prescribed powers of investigation, prosecution, and the right to request warrants.

Prosecutor Song posted on the prosecutors’ internal network, ‘Epros’, stating, “If the name ‘prosecutor’ remains but its core meaning is changed, the constitutional standards for the allocation and control of powers will also change. If the language of the community can be redefined by legislation, then all core constitutional concepts could be undermined in the same way.”

A constitutional adjudication on competence is a procedure in which the Constitutional Court determines whether the powers of a state institution have been infringed. Previously, in response to a proposed amendment to the Government Organization Act that included the abolition of the Prosecution Service, Kim Seonghun, head prosecutor at the Cheongju District Prosecutors’ Office, filed a constitutional complaint last year, but the Constitutional Court dismissed it at the preliminary review stage on the grounds that there was no possibility of a violation of fundamental rights.

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