The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office recently decided to urgently dispatch prosecutors to frontline district branches facing staffing shortages.
On Apr. 7, according to legal sources, the Ministry of Justice will dispatch one prosecutor from the International Investment Disputes Division to the Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office also plans to dispatch one research officer to the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office.
Both dispatched prosecutors are mid-career. They will transfer on the 13th. The dispatch period is said to run until June, when experienced prosecutors currently in the hiring process are appointed.
In particular, the Namyangju branch, to which the Ministry of Justice is dispatching personnel, is also the office that formed a dedicated investigation team for the "director Kim Chang-min death case." However, it is undecided whether the dispatched personnel will join the dedicated team.
The reason even the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office are sending personnel to frontline branches is a severe manpower shortage. When the Namyangju branch opened in 2022, it had as many as 23 prosecutors, but now only 11 line prosecutors are on duty. The Cheonan branch has an authorized staff of 35, but only 12 are currently working, according to reports.
The causes of the shortage are multifaceted. The biggest factors are the successive secondments of prosecutors to special counsels and a wave of resignations. Cheonan branch deputy chief prosecutor An Mi-hyeon described the Cheonan branch as a "bankrupt branch" on her social media (SNS) last month, saying it was "because (prosecutors) have gone elsewhere under various pretexts such as special counsel and the joint investigation headquarters."
Cases are piling up as well. According to the Prosecution Service, long-pending cases that have not reached a conclusion for more than three months at prosecutors' offices nationwide increased from 18,198 in 2024 to 37,421 in 2025, more than doubling in a year. Because of this, additional personnel dispatches to frontline branches remain possible.
A legal community official said, "I understand this is a dispatch to ease the workload at frontline branches," adding, "The real problem is that delays in handling livelihood-related cases are structurally accumulating, and ultimately the general public will have to bear that burden."