"I have to report to work at the Major Crimes Investigation Agency starting on the 2nd, and I still do not even know which division I am going to."
A prosecution official whose special appointment to the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, or MCIA, has been confirmed said this, adding, "These are personnel decisions made completely in the dark, and it is nothing but frustrating." The official has to report to a new workplace immediately but does not know which division or with whom they will be working. "Other than being told I was selected as a special appointee, I have received no notice at all," the official said. "All we hear are rumors that office equipment and even the offices themselves have not been properly set up."
With South Korea's new criminal justice structure taking effect, the opening of the MCIA and the Public Prosecution Office is down to the final count, yet concerns about starting the engine before the doors are closed have not subsided. Inside the prosecution service, some are even saying the agency could end up parked with its doors open, unable to begin work at all.
According to legal circles on the 1st, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's MCIA launch preparation team notified successful candidates in the second round of special appointments individually on Sept. 28. About 40 people were appointed from among applicants under the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, completing the second round of selections.
The problem is that even with the first and second rounds of special appointments settled, investigative staffing remains insufficient. The interior ministry's launch preparation team confirmed a total of 1,674 appointees in the first round. Of those, 212 were at the rank of Grade 5 investigator or above — just one-third, or 33.7%, of the 629 positions authorized at Grade 5 and above, excluding the MCIA chief. For investigators at Grade 6 and below, 1,462 were appointed, 475 short of the authorized 1,937. Even if all 201 applicants in the second round were appointed, total appointees would reach 1,875, or 65.24% of the authorized headcount.
A prosecution official who asked not to be named said, "With the inaugural MCIA chief post vacant, additional hiring from outside the service needs to be pursued urgently." The official added, "The opening is right in front of us, and we have yet to confirm not only the head of the agency but even the regional chiefs in Seoul, Busan, Suwon, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju." The official also said, "There is talk that offices at headquarters and the Seoul office are still not properly prepared," stressing that "some suggest only a few floors will be usable because internal office equipment has not been fully installed." A floor directory checked outside Renaissance Square, which houses the headquarters and the MCIA, listed divisions only for the second through eighth floors. Headquarters occupies the seventh and eighth floors, while the Seoul Regional MCIA takes the second through fifth. The second floor houses narcotics investigation units, while the third and fourth hold the Advanced Investigation Bureau, the Joint Voice Phishing Investigation Division, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau, the Economic Investigation Bureau and the Financial Crime Investigation Bureau. The fifth floor holds the offices of the Seoul Regional MCIA chief and the first through third deputy chiefs. The eighth floor houses the offices of the MCIA chief and deputy chief, along with offices for personnel policy planning, planning and coordination, investigation intelligence, inspection, personnel affairs, planning and finance, and audit. The seventh floor holds the offices of the heads of economic crime investigation, the Forensic Investigation Bureau and the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau.
A legal source familiar with prosecution affairs said, "Offices are one problem, but there is talk that office equipment such as computers has not been properly prepared either." The source added, "Computer towers have arrived at headquarters and the Seoul office, but monitors have not, and there are even rumors that regional offices have neither and will have to use rental laptops from outside." Another legal source said, "Some expect it will take another one to two months before an environment for actually conducting investigations is in place," and added, "With the Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services, or KICS, not properly connected, there is talk that even cases the prosecution had already opened are being transferred to the police."
