With acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun beginning official duties on the 17th, attention is focusing on follow-up appointments for the prosecution's top leadership.
Key posts, including the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as well as high prosecutor positions, are vacant, weakening the prosecution's ability to respond to pending issues and its grip on the organization. Depending on what appointments Koo makes, the outlook is split between an expansion of internal fissures and finding a path to patch them up.
◇ Urgent task: appointments for key leadership posts such as the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief, now in a "vacant state"
Koo started official duties the same day without a separate inauguration ceremony. At about 2 p.m., Koo paid a courtesy visit to Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho. The Justice Ministry said the visit was customary as an inaugural courtesy call.
Koo must immediately soothe internal backlash sparked by the decision to forgo an appeal in the Daejang-dong development corruption case and seek organizational stabilization. As a first step toward stabilization, Koo is expected to focus on follow-up personnel moves.
In particular, the selection of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office chief, known as one of the "big four," is drawing the most attention. Kim Tae-hoon, head of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, and Lim Eun-jeong, head of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, are being discussed as leading candidates. The two were among the chiefs whose names were absent from the collective statement by 18 chief prosecutors on the 10th that demanded an explanation for the decision to drop the Daejang-dong appeal. If they are tapped to lead the central office, there is concern that internal discontent could reignite.
Despite the situation, the Justice Ministry has publicly floated even the option of transferring the chiefs who joined the statement to posts as line prosecutors, further fueling internal pushback. While such transfers are not legally "disciplinary," many view them as de facto demotions, and precedents are exceedingly rare.
Koo avoided giving direct answers to questions about personnel matters on the way to work in the morning and again in front of the Justice Ministry building in the afternoon. On the same day, Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho said on the way to work, "We are considering what would be best," adding, "The most important thing is for the Justice Ministry and the prosecution to be stabilized."
◇ Must also push to repeal the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, a "request from predecessor Noh Man-seok"
An even more sensitive task lies before Koo. The Democratic Party of Korea's proposed amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act to "streamline the process for dismissing prosecutors," along with a bill to repeal the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act, has begun deliberation in the National Assembly. On the 14th, the Democratic Party of Korea introduced the related bills and announced plans to pass them within the year.
The measures would allow prosecutors to be dismissed like ordinary civil servants without impeachment, raising considerable concern that they could severely shake the prosecution's political independence and organizational stability.
A remark by predecessor Noh Man-seok at a retirement ceremony asking publicly to "stop discussions such as prosecutorial discipline" also reflected this situation. In effect, Koo has inherited the political test left by his predecessor.
The clock is also ticking toward the planned "abolition of the Prosecutors' Office" in October next year. With a government reorganization plan set to dismantle the prosecution's organization and integrate it under the Justice Ministry, Koo must also serve as a bridge between the government and the prosecution.
However, given Koo's experience as head of the Justice and Prosecution Reform Task Force under the Justice and Prosecution Reform Committee—which discussed "de-prosecutorization" of the Justice Ministry early in the Moon Jae-in administration—there are expectations Koo could play a role in mediating differences between the two sides.
Koo graduated from Cheongju High School and Seoul National University School of Law, and passed the bar exam in 1997. Koo is regarded as a traditional elite who has served in core prosecutorial posts, including the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and the Justice Ministry. A 29th class graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Koo is a classmate of former acting chief Noh.