Preparations for the opening of the Gwangju Regional Serious Crime Investigation Office (Gwangju Heavy Investigation Office), which takes over the prosecution's direct investigation function of serious crimes and is in charge of it, are entering the final stages.
Although the office space and facilities necessary for work are being equipped, there are still issues that need to be resolved, such as securing investigative personnel and security issues in government offices located in private buildings.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security Heavy Water Agency opening preparation team on the 24th, final preparations are being made with the goal of opening the Gwangju Heavy Water Agency on the 2nd of next month.
The Gwangju Central Investigation Office, which is in charge of investigating serious crimes previously handled by the high and district prosecutors in the Gwangju, Jeonbuk, and Jeju regions, is comprised of a total of 240 people, including investigators and general public officials.
The system consists of 1 director, 1 deputy director, 3 bureaus, 10 departments, and 4 officers, with 1 level 1, 1 level 2, 3 level 3, 20 level 4, 27 level 5, 50 level 6, 61 level 7, 38 level 8, and 38 level 9 people.
Those at the district prosecutor level are appointed at level 1, those at the deputy chief/chief prosecutor level are at level 2, those with more than 10 years of legal experience are at level 3, and those with less than 10 years of experience are at level 4.
The government office will be located in the Hankyung Building, with 4 floors underground and 10 floors above ground, located in Jungheung-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, and will use the suspect detention center within the Gwangju Eastern Police Station.
As of this day, staff offices, the Office of the Commissioner of Heavy Water, and a conference room were built on the first to third floors, and basic office equipment such as desks, chairs, and partitions were also installed.
The 4th to 7th floors, where the existing tenants moved, are vacant, but construction companies are still using offices on the 8th to 9th floors, raising concerns about security management.
As major suspects and witnesses come and go, security equivalent to that of the Prosecutor's Office is necessary, but this is because the construction company occupying the private building must share the space for a while until it moves.
An official from a construction company said that they decided to move the office to another location to accommodate the Heavy Water Administration's use of the building, and the Opening Preparation Team also believes that there will be no major security issues as the Heavy Water Water Administration will use all floors of the building except for part of the second basement floor.
We plan to establish a security system by installing access control facilities at the main entrance and establishing a separate route for the movement of suspects and confiscated goods.
Securing manpower to handle the investigation in a timely manner is also a challenge.
Initially, 2,376 people applied for the first special appointment for standard prosecutors and prosecution staff at the National Central Investigation Agency, but some withdrew, reducing the number to 1,761.
In the second round of recruitment conducted this month, 201 additional people applied, but in the Gwangju area of โโSouth Jeolla Province, neither the prosecution nor prosecutors' investigators were reportedly active in applying.
It is known that only some relatively young prosecutors who graduated from law schools applied to continue their investigative careers.
The police organization initially showed interest in applying for future career-competitive recruitment, focusing on inspectors and police officers with investigative experience, but interest seems to have decreased somewhat after the organizational plan was announced.
In particular, since the inspector level is structured to be appointed as level 6 when moving to the Central Investigation Agency, there are complaints about fairness in rank and treatment with personnel from the prosecution.
It is reported that some police officers who are about to reach retirement age at a relatively young age are considering employment with the Heavy Water Service as a future career option.
An official from the Office Opening Preparation Team said, "We are preparing the necessary procedures, including organization, manpower, and facilities, according to the scheduled opening schedule without a hitch," and added, "We will continue to check and supplement the necessary matters so that serious crime investigation work can be carried out stably even after the opening of the office."
