(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Won-jeong = Following President Lee Jae-myung's instructions to revise and supplement the Public Prosecution Office's proposal to maintain the number of prosecutors, the Ministry of Justice is pursuing a plan to reduce the number of prosecutors while reducing the number of investigative personnel by more than half.
The name of the 'Judicial Control Department', which has caused controversy in the political world, is also being internally reviewed to be changed to 'Non-Submitted Case Review Department'.
According to the legal community on the 13th, the Ministry of Justice is considering a plan to reduce the number of investigators and practical officers in the investigation department by 50.2% from the current 4,284 to 2,133 in accordance with the enactment of the 'Public Prosecution Office and Affiliated Agency Organization' proposal.
With the launch of the Public Prosecution Office, the Ministry of Justice plans to reduce the number of prosecutors and drug investigators by 50.7% from 2,986 to 1,471 while reorganizing them into 'criminal legal officers.'
The role of criminal legal officers is to assist prosecutors with their work, including cooperation with investigative agencies, confirmation of facts, and review and analysis of records, at the Public Prosecution Office, which has lost its investigative authority.
The Ministry of Justice's position is that in order to actualize the guidance and advice of special judicial police and the right to request supplementary investigations, at least one criminal legal officer should be assigned to each prosecutor's office to perform prosecutorial and prosecutorial duties together.
The Ministry of Justice plans to review ways to readjust the number of prosecutors through business analysis and external research after the launch of the Public Prosecution Office.
The proposal for the Public Prosecution Office, which the Ministry of Justice previously announced on the 4th, stipulates reducing the number of general positions from 8,414 to 6,120.
However, the number of prosecutors remained the same at 2,292, leading to a backlash from the ruling party calling it a "retreat for prosecutorial reform," and President Lee Jae-myung also ordered supplementation on the 10th, saying, "Why not use the number of people actually needed?"
However, there are concerns within the prosecution that if the number of prosecutors is reduced hastily at a time when the outflow of personnel is accelerating, there is a high possibility that the backlog of unsolved cases will not be properly handled.
The Ministry of Justice predicts that among the 2,051 current prosecutors, about 130, including 90 scheduled to be appointed to the Serious Crimes Investigation Office (Serious Crimes Investigation Office) and those scheduled to resign, will leave the prosecution.
The current number of prosecutors has been frozen for 12 years since 2014. Because the number of prosecutors is regulated by law (the Prosecutors' Quota Act), it is difficult to respond immediately, so unlike other general positions, vacancies are limited to around 10%, taking into account leave of absence and dispatch.
It was decided to maintain the number of general administrative and trial support personnel unrelated to the investigation at 3,583, similar to the existing number (3,580).
The Ministry of Justice believes that there will be no change in workload even if investigation and prosecution are separated, based on the fact that 99% of the work of the existing prosecutors' office was handling cases transferred to the primary investigative agency.
President Lee is considering changing the name of the Judicial Control Department to the Non-Submitted Case Review Department, which he pointed out as "inappropriate to give it a controversial name."
The Judicial Control Department reviews the investigation records that the police dismissed as not guilty and did not forward the case, checks for cover-up and poor investigation, and decides whether to request a re-investigation.
Hard-liners on prosecution reform within the ruling party are protesting, saying that the Judicial Control Department could become a detour to neutralize the prosecution's right to investigate.
