On the 7th, the Lee Jae-myung government announced that it would pursue a revision of the Government Organization Act to abolish the prosecution office next year. The prosecution office will come to an end next year, 78 years after it was established in 1948.
The government will transfer the investigative tasks previously performed by the prosecution to a new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (중수청) under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The prosecution's indictment and prosecution maintenance functions will be handled by a newly established Prosecution Agency under the Ministry of Justice.
On this day, the presidential office, the government, and the Democratic Party of Korea held a high-level party-government meeting and stated that they would push for this reorganization of government structure. The Democratic Party plans to handle the proposed revision of the Government Organization Act containing these details at the National Assembly's plenary session on the 25th.
The prosecution office was established shortly after the government was founded in 1948 and has continued to exist until now. Matters concerning the appointment of the prosecutor general are stipulated in the constitution. Prosecutors have also been guaranteed the right to request warrants under the constitution and have performed both investigative and prosecutorial tasks.
The Lee Jae-myung government believes that the prosecution should not monopolize investigative and prosecutorial authority. Therefore, after abolishing the prosecution office, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will take over investigative tasks such as economic and corruption crimes currently handled by the prosecution. The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will be established under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. As a result, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will become a giant ministry overseeing both the police organization and the investigation officers of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
The previously handled indictment and prosecution maintenance tasks will be transferred to a newly created Prosecution Agency under the Ministry of Justice.
However, the Democratic Party and the government have decided to implement this organizational restructuring in September next year. Since a significant change is occurring in the prosecution organization that has been maintained for decades, there are plans to carefully discuss detailed implementation measures during the grace period. The government has decided to establish a government-wide Task Force (TF) for prosecutorial system reform under the Prime Minister's Office.