An incumbent prosecutor filed a constitutional petition against a government organization law revision centered on abolishing the Prosecution Service.
According to legal sources on the 30th, Cheongju District Prosecutors' Office Director General Kim Seong-hun said in a post on the prosecution's internal network that "on the 29th, [I] submitted a petition for adjudication on constitutionality to the Constitutional Court regarding the government organization law revision centered on abolishing the Prosecution Service and establishing the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (Jung Sucheong)."
Kim argued in the petition that the government organization law revision exceeds legislative limits, strips prosecutors of the investigative authority granted to them by the Constitution, and unjustly deprives them of their status, thereby infringing prosecutors' rights.
Kim explained that once the law takes effect and the Prosecution Service is converted into a Public Prosecution Office, prosecutors' status will change to public prosecutors and they will be unable to exercise the investigative authority the Constitution envisions for prosecutors, thereby infringing the right to hold public office.
This is the first time an incumbent prosecutor has personally filed a constitutional petition related to the bill abolishing the Prosecution Service. Previously, former Ministry of Justice Ministers and prosecutors general filed constitutional petitions.
The government organization law revision to abolish the Prosecution Service and establish the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Office passed the National Assembly in September under the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Under the revision, the Prosecution Service will close in September next year, 78 years after its establishment, with investigations among the prosecution's functions to be handled by the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and indictments by the Public Prosecution Office.