Personnel Shifts of the Prosecution on May 27

The Ministry of Justice summoned the prosecutors’ personnel committee yesterday and discussed the promotion and transfer of the executive members, who are higher ranked than the chief public prosecutors.

Kang Kum-sil, minister of Justice, will make the personnel plan based on the discussion with the personnel committee and report to President Roh. She will then finally release this decision on May 27.

In relation with this personnel change, the candidates of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors` Office (DPPO) are: An Dae-hee, chief investigator in the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office (SPPO), Lee Jong-baek, chairman of the Prosecution Bureau in the Ministry of Justice, and Hong Seok-jo, chairman of High Public Prosecutors’ Office. The candidates for the chief investigator in the SPPO position are Park Sang-kil, planning department manager of the Ministry of Justice, and Jo Sung-sik, manager of criminal affairs in the SPPO.

The senior chief prosecutor in the SPPO, Kim Jong-bin, will remain in office or transfer from the Pusan DPPO. Jung Sang-myung, the vice minister of Justice, will transfer to the chairman of the HPPO. The candidates of the successor are: Jung Jin-kyu, chief prosecutor in the Seoul Central DPPO, and Kim Sang-hee, chief prosecutor in the Daejeon DPPO.

If the current chairman of the Prosecution Bureau in the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Lee Jong-baek, does not remain in office, Hong Kyung-sik, senior manager of Public Security in SPPO, or Lim Chae-jin, chief prosecutor in the Chuncheon DPPO, will transfer to this position.

The senior manager of Public Security in SPPO, Hong Kyung-sik, will remain in office or An Young-wook, the chief prosecutor in the Ulsan DPPO, will transfer to this position.

Seo Young-Jea, head of Seoul Central District Public Prosecutors` Office (DPPO), will be promoted to the head of HPPO. Jung Hong-won, head of Legal Research and Training Institute, announced his retirement yesterday. Meanwhile, the MOJ and the SPPO decided to unite the Violent Crimes unit and Narcotics unit, but the organizational reduction of the SPPO would be discussed more.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com