Soon to be submitted to the Cabinet Meeting... From high-level personnel appointments to organizational restructuring, mid-level executive appointments are bound to grow as well
[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Ministry of Justice, which has carried out high-level personnel appointments in the prosecution, is set to proceed with the organizational restructuring plan before mid-level personnel appointments. The core of the plan is to limit the prosecution's direct investigations and impose requirements such as approval from the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Justice, drawing attention to how much Minister Park Beom-gye will reflect the prosecution's opinions.
According to the legal community on the 7th, Minister Park is expected to meet with Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo ahead of mid-level personnel appointments to discuss the organizational restructuring plan and subsequent personnel changes in the prosecution.
After the high-level personnel appointments on the 4th, Minister Park stated, "Mid-level personnel appointments must begin immediately," but also said, "The reorganization must precede." The organizational restructuring plan, which is being promoted by presidential decree, is likely to be submitted to the Cabinet meeting soon, and since Minister Park mentioned that he would meet Prosecutor General Kim again, the meeting between the two leaders may take place urgently.
The restructuring plan includes provisions that only dedicated divisions of the local prosecutors' offices can directly investigate six major crimes (corruption, public officials, economy, elections, major disasters, defense projects), and that general criminal divisions can initiate investigations only with approval from the Prosecutor General or the Minister of Justice.
In response, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office has conveyed the opinions of frontline prosecutors' offices to the Ministry of Justice. The collected opinions reportedly include concerns that the prosecution's investigative capabilities may weaken and that requiring ministerial approval effectively amounts to investigation control. Prosecutor General Kim also conveyed detailed internal prosecution opinions during his first meeting with Minister Park.
There is a possibility that Minister Park will partially accept the prosecution's opinions. In the previous high-level personnel appointments, many pro-government officials were promoted, causing significant internal opposition within the prosecution. If the Ministry proceeds aggressively with both organizational restructuring and mid-level personnel appointments under these circumstances, criticism from both inside and outside the prosecution is likely to intensify.
Even if the direction of the organizational restructuring and mid-level personnel appointments shifts somewhat, the scale of personnel changes is unlikely to decrease. This is because the number of high-ranking personnel candidates alone reaches 41, and the government's policy of reducing direct investigations while strengthening trial and human rights divisions is reflected in every personnel appointment.
Another point of interest is whether major case investigation teams will be relocated. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 3 and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 1, which are respectively handling the investigations into the 'illegal travel ban of former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui' and the 'Blue House planned inspection,' are representative examples. The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 5, which is investigating the 'alleged manipulation of the economic feasibility evaluation of Wolseong Unit 1,' is also under scrutiny. Additionally, attention is focused on the composition of the newly established Financial Securities Crime Investigation Cooperation Unit.
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