Prosecutors With Under 10 Years of Experience to Be Appointed as Grade 4 Investigators in Serious Crime Investigation Agency, Retaining Pay and Retirement Age

Prosecutors with less than 10 years of legal experience who move to the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (SCIA) in October will be appointed as Grade 4 investigators.

While prosecutors are not subject to the same rank system as general public officials, they have typically been treated equivalently to Grade 3 starting from their initial appointment.

However, their salaries and retirement ages will be maintained at previous levels, and their compensation will be determined by comparing remuneration before and after their appointment to the SCIA to provide the more advantageous amount.

The SCIA will launch with a headquarters and six regional office systems, totaling 2,874 personnel, of which investigators will account for 2,567 (89.3%).

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's preparation team for the launch of the SCIA announced that the enactment bills for the Organization of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and its Affiliated Agencies and the Enforcement Decree on the Appointment of Investigators for the Serious Crime Investigation Agency containing these measures will be legislatively noticed from the 5th to the 10th.

According to the appointment decree draft, prosecutors moving to the SCIA will be appointed based on their previous positions and legal experience: chief prosecutor-level officials as Grade 1 investigators, and deputy or senior prosecutor-level officials as Grade 2 investigators.

Other prosecutors with 10 or more years of legal experience will be appointed as Grade 3 investigators, and those with less than 10 years as Grade 4 investigators.

The government explained that equivalent ranks were established to ensure that the rank and treatment of core investigative personnel and capabilities transferred from the prosecution service to the SCIA are not disadvantaged compared to the present.

Prosecutors and prosecution investigators belonging to the prosecution service can be appointed as public officials affiliated with the SCIA without a separate open competitive examination if they wish.

The special provisions granting equivalent ranks to prosecutors based on their legal experience and exempting them from examinations will be applied temporarily until April 30 next year.

To prevent the concentration of authority, appointment powers for SCIA investigators will be distributed among the President, the Minister of the Interior and Safety, and the Head of the SCIA.

The President will appoint Grade 1 and 2 investigators, while the Minister of the Interior and Safety will exercise appointment powers for Grade 3 to 5 investigators, excluding dismissal and removal.

The Head of the SCIA will hold the power to recommend appointments for Grade 1 to 5 investigators, transfer Grade 5 investigators, and appoint investigators of Grade 6 and below.

To strengthen the investigative capabilities of SCIA investigators, those in Grade 5 and below will be able to advance through promotion examinations as well as evaluation-based promotions.

Outstanding investigative personnel will be eligible for special promotions, and regulations stipulate efforts to ensure that special promotions account for at least 30% of total promotions for investigators in Grade 6 and below.

Investigators in Grade 3 and above who receive the lowest rating in performance evaluations for two consecutive years or a total of three or more years in the same rank may be subject to involuntary retirement following a suitability review.

The SCIA consists of a headquarters and six regional offices in Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, and Gwangju, with a total authorized workforce of 2,874.

Among them, SCIA investigators number 2,567, making up 89.3% of the total, while general public officials and others account for 307.

The headquarters will comprise 396 personnel, including the agency head and deputy head, across 8 bureaus, offices, and spokesperson roles, and 24 divisions and managers.

The six regional offices will deploy 2,478 personnel, including 6 regional office heads, 8 deputy heads, 22 bureaus, and 110 divisions and managers.

The headquarters will be responsible for establishing investigative policies, directing and supervising regional investigations, and human rights protection policies, while regional offices will directly investigate major crimes within their jurisdictions.

Investigative departments have been organized by crime type to professionally investigate seven major crimes designated by law, including corruption, economic crimes, defense acquisition, narcotics, national security, cybercrime, and the crime of distorting the law.

The Seoul Regional Office, where major crime cases are concentrated, will deploy the largest number with 1,89 personnel and will have three deputy heads under its chief.

Five joint investigation units will also be established to respond to livelihood crimes such as voice phishing and narcotics.

The Seoul office will house joint investigation units for voice phishing, financial crimes, and virtual asset crimes; the Suwon office for narcotics; and the Daejeon office for national fiscal crimes.

Quota allocations for dispatched personnel from related agencies such as the Financial Services Commission and the National Tax Service were also reflected in the organization rules.

In accordance with the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, a dedicated organization will be newly established to handle supplementary investigations requested by prosecutors regarding cases primarily investigated by other investigative agencies.

A Special Investigation Team for Socially Vulnerable Crimes (Special Investigation Division for the Seoul office) will be established as a dedicated supplementary investigation unit at both the headquarters and each regional office.

To prevent human rights violations, an inspector general will be placed at the headquarters, and a deliberation officer for investigations and a human rights protection officer will be set up in each of the six regional offices.

The SCIA will also enable the selection of external professionals such as police officers, lawyers, and certified public accountants through career-competitive recruitment exams based on relevant experience, qualifications, and degrees.

The preparation team will tour 18 high prosecutors' offices and other locations nationwide from the 5th to the 12th to hold appointment briefings for prosecutors and prosecution investigators.

It plans to accept appointment applications from the 7th to the 20th, select candidates by the end of September, and make appointments in line with the launch of the SCIA on October 2.

The SCIA headquarters and Seoul Regional Office will co-locate at the ReneSquare Building in Jung-gu, Seoul, and have completed their lease contract.

The Busan office will use First World in Gangseo-gu, Busan; the Daegu office will use Namsan Building in Nam-gu, Daegu; and the Gwangju office will use Hankyung Building in Buk-gu, Gwangju.

The Daejeon office will initially move into a private building in Sejong City before constructing and relocating to a new office building on the former Daejeon Tax Office site, while the Suwon office will temporarily occupy the Gyeonggi Credit Guarantee Foundation building before relocating to its main office early next year.

During the initial period of opening, the Criminal Justice Information System of the Korean National Police Agency (KICS) will be reorganized and utilized to fit SCIA operations.

Essential functions such as case management will be prioritized on the opening day, while remaining case processing functions will be established step-by-step by the end of the year.

Since building an independent SCIA KICS is expected to take over three years, plans are in place to build it separately after the launch.

Common administrative information systems, such as electronic approval and email, will utilize the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's On-Nara system to shorten construction periods and save budgets.

Kim Min-jae, head of the SCIA preparation team, said, "The launch of the SCIA is an important stepping stone for prosecution reform that realizes the separation of investigation and prosecution," adding, "We will make thorough preparations so that it can launch as a specialized investigative agency trusted by the public."

(Photo: Provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.