Korea to Abolish 78-Year-Old Prosecution Service as Successor Agencies Face Leadership Gaps

South Korea is preparing to abolish its 78-year-old prosecution service on Friday, replacing it with separate bodies for prosecution and major-crime investigations. The institutional overhaul is moving toward its launch, however, without appointed chiefs for either successor agency and with significant staffing questions unresolved.

Under the new structure, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office will seek warrants, decide whether suspects should be charged and represent cases in court. The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will investigate major offenses such as corruption and economic crime, while police will continue to handle other criminal investigations.

Prosecutors will no longer be able to conduct criminal investigations or supplementary investigations themselves. They will retain authority to ask other investigative agencies to conduct additional work. The division is intended to separate the power to investigate from the power to prosecute, a central element of President Lee Jae Myung’s effort to prevent prosecutorial authority from being used for politically motivated investigations and indictments.

The transition faces an immediate leadership vacuum. The formal process to select the first head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has not begun. The justice minister’s position is also vacant after nominee Kim Seung-won withdrew on Sept. 19 amid allegations that included improper lobbying connected to a COVID-19 treatment trial. Kim denied the allegations.

Lawyer Kim Ji-yong has been nominated to lead the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, but his appointment remains pending as additional vetting continues. Some figures in the ruling camp have also raised objections concerning his record and views on prosecution reform.

Staffing is another unresolved issue. The investigative agency has 2,874 authorized positions, but 1,962 prosecutors and other prosecution service employees remained applicants after two rounds of special hiring applications. Their appointments have not yet been confirmed. A total of 615 people withdrew during the first round, and the agency plans to choose appointees by the end of September while recruiting additional personnel from outside the existing prosecution service.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office is expected to begin work with about 1,900 prosecutors, below the current statutory ceiling of 2,292. The Justice Ministry plans to leave positions vacant as prosecutors depart or transfer to the investigative agency, then review staffing needs before pursuing a legal reduction in the quota.

The overhaul will therefore begin with the legal division of duties largely defined but with leadership, personnel and implementation issues still unsettled. How the two new organizations coordinate warrants, investigations, charging decisions and requests for further inquiry will be an early test of the reform’s ability to avoid disruption while changing the balance of power in Korea’s criminal justice system.