Supreme Prosecutors' Office Takes Down Signboard... Public Prosecution Service and Serious Crime Investigation Agency to Launch Tomorrow

[Anchor]

Starting tomorrow (Oct 2), the Prosecutors' Office will disappear into history, as investigation and indictment are separated into the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Service, respectively. Although this is a massive overhaul of the criminal justice system, the newly opening Serious Crime Investigation Agency has not only failed to complete its staffing but has also yet to properly secure office space within its building. There are growing concerns over inconveniences in public judicial services.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has the report.

[Reporter]

On the eve of the abolition of the Prosecutors' Office, the four characters of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office were replaced with the three characters of the Public Prosecution Service.

The signboard of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office disappeared inside the building, wrapped in a large cloth.

Throughout today at the prosecution building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, work continued to replace prosecution-related lettering and symbols posted everywhere.

The Ministry of Justice poured 6.5 billion won in reserve funds into replacing the symbols to shape the exterior of the Public Prosecution Service.

The Public Prosecution Service, which has mostly inherited the existing prosecution buildings and organization, wrapped up staffing placements tailored to the reorganized organizational structure through its initial appointments the day before yesterday.

However, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, a newly born organization, has failed to even finish preparing facilities within its building today, just a day before its launch.

[Official involved in Serious Crime Investigation Agency facility construction : We came to work on this and just the space next to it. It seems to be work like putting up internal partitions....]

Investigations must begin immediately starting tomorrow, but internal construction on the building must continue until at least the end of the year, and basic fixtures such as computers and internal phones have not been fully equipped.

In particular, the Criminal Justice Information System, which is core to investigative work, can only use limited functions such as receiving case transfers, acceptance, and assignment, and it is expected to take another three years to complete its own system.

A shortage of personnel is also a problem.

With only 66% of the total fixed quota filled, a stopgap measure has been put forward to push once again for additional special appointments for Public Prosecution Service personnel.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the list of seven Grade 1 investigators, including the deputy chief of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency headquarters, today, but it is reported that department assignments and work divisions for a significant portion of working-level personnel, such as prosecution investigators transferring from the existing prosecution, have not yet been notified.

Regarding the sweeping transformation of the criminal justice system maintained for nearly 80 years, public damage resulting from initial chaos seems inevitable.

(Video reporting : Kim Nam-sung, Kang Si-woo | Video editing : Shin Seeun | Design : Kim Min-young, Yang Ki-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.