The ministry said Tuesday that amendments to the "Organizational Structure of the Public Prosecution Office and Its Affiliated Agencies" and the "Enforcement Decree of the Prosecutor Quota Act" were approved at a Cabinet meeting. The measures went through a legislative notice period from Sept. 4 to 9. The amendments call for further cuts to investigative personnel and the abolition of three deputy chief prosecutor-level posts and eight departments. The names of several departments that had drawn controversy will also be changed.
The current Prosecutor Quota Act sets the number of prosecutors at 2,292. The Public Prosecution Office will launch with 80% to 85% of that figure. Because the quota cannot be cut immediately without a legal revision, the ministry opted to run the office with vacancies. With roughly 10% of positions already unfilled, the move will widen that gap. Vacancies arising after the launch will also go unfilled, regardless of special appointments to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
The ministry will also push for a revision to the Prosecutor Quota Act to legally reduce the number of prosecutors. The specific scale of the cut, however, will be determined after the launch, based on workload analysis and organizational assessments by outside agencies — a step seen as accounting for uncertainty in the early stages of the new system.
Cuts to investigators have also deepened. The ministry will reduce criminal justice staff — currently known as investigators — by 230 more than in the original legislative notice. As a result, 2,048 positions, or 68.6% of the current 2,986, will be eliminated. Another 477 general service positions will also be cut, bringing the total reduction in general service posts to 2,525, or about 30% of the entire quota.
Department names that had drawn criticism were also revised. The "Judicial Control Department" becomes the "Non-Referral Review Department," and the "Serious Crimes Task Force" becomes the "Serious Crimes Prosecution Department." The Non-Referral Review Department will retroactively examine the legality and appropriateness of cases in which judicial police decided not to refer them to prosecutors, preventing cases from being buried. The Serious Crimes Prosecution Department will handle cases referred by the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
