A push from politicians to sharply cut the number of prosecutors at a new indictment agency launching next month is drawing pushback from legal circles. Reducing staff solely because investigative powers are being stripped away would run counter to the government's stated goal of strengthening trial-centered criminal procedure and could leave prosecutions poorly handled, critics say.
A staffing plan drawn up by the Ministry of Justice would keep the prosecutor headcount at the new Public Prosecution Service at 2,292, unchanged from the current level, legal sources said on the 9th. The agency opens on the 2nd of next month. Figures across the ruling bloc have called for the plan to be revisited, arguing that both the headcount and the organization should shrink as investigative functions disappear. Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said the National Assembly needs to examine carefully whether there is excessive vested interest in preserving the organization. Lee Sung-yoon, a senior member of the party's leadership council, said that if the agency does not conduct investigations, its structure, staffing and budget should change accordingly.
Inside the prosecution service, however, officials argue that the removal of investigative powers should not be linked so directly to staff cuts. Strengthening indictment and the handling of cases at trial — the core work of the new agency — would in fact require more trial prosecutors, they say.
The number of criminal court divisions nationwide rose 32% over the past decade, to 581 last year from 439 in 2015. Trial prosecutors increased only 20% over the same period, to 300 from 249. As a result, the number of court divisions handled by each trial prosecutor rose about 10%. The trial prosecutor count includes non-standing trial divisions, appellate trial divisions at high prosecutors' offices, and prosecutors who handle investigations and trials at the same time.
Demand for trial staff is expected to grow further, with 370 additional judges to be appointed by 2029 and more than 100 new criminal court divisions anticipated. Even now, it is not unusual for a single prosecutor to cover two court divisions and appear in court four or five days a week.
A prosecution official said staffing needs to be arranged so that one prosecutor can handle one court division, in order to prevent delays in criminal proceedings and to handle prosecutions properly.
