41 Officials Reshuffled, Promoted to Directorial-Level Public Prosecutor Posts

The Ministry of Justice announced the promotion and transference of 41 high-ranking officials beyond the superintendent prosecutor level on Thursday, promoting Ahn Dae-hee, chief of the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office to head the Busan High Public Prosecutor’s Office, and transferring Lee Jong-baek, director of the Prosecution Bureau at the Ministry of Justice to head the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office. Official appointment to the new posts is scheduled for the first day of June.

Kim Sang-hee, director of the Daejon High Public Prosecutor’s Office, Lee Jung-soo, director of the Busan High Public Prosecutor’s Office and Kim Jong-bin, vice director of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office were transferred to Vice Justice Minister, vice director of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office and the director of Seoul High Public Prosecutor’s Office, respectively. Vice Justice Minister Chung Sang-myung was transferred to head the Daegu High Public Prosecutor’s Office and Seo Young-je, director of Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office, was promoted to the director of the Daejon High Public Prosecutor’s Office. Chung Jin-kyu, director of the Seoul High Public Prosecutor’s Office and Lim Rae-hyun, director of Daegu High Public Prosecutor’s Office, were transferred to the chief of the Legal Research and Training Institute and the director of the Gwangju High Public Prosecutor’s Office, respectively.

As for the chief of the Central Investigation Department and the Public Security Department at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the director of the Prosecution Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, which are key positions in the prosecution including the director of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office, Park Sang-kil, director of the Office of Planning and Management, Kang Chung-sik, director of the Jeonju District Public Prosecutor’s Office and Lim Chae-jin, director of the Chuncheon District Public Prosecutor’s Office were appointed to be transferred, who were all from the 19th state law examination.

Also, Kwon Tae-ho, director of the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Public Prosecutor’s Office, Park Young-soo, director of the Eastern Busan branch of the Busan District Public Prosecutor’s Office, Moon Hyo-nam, Criminal Intelligence Planning Officer at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Moon Sung-woo, Second Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office, Lee Bok-tae, First Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Busan District Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Kim Jun-kyu, First Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Suwon District Public Prosecutor’s Office were all promoted to the superintendent prosecutor level.

A Justice Ministry official said, “This reshuffling is for stabilizing the prosecution organization, respecting the existing hierarchy,” adding, “But we selected novel faces in the planning department, and considered the principle of personnel interchange between Seoul and the provinces and officials’ native places.”

In the meantime, Kwak Young-chul, chief of the Narcotics Department who was transferred to the chief of the Planning Department of the Legal Research and Training Institute, submitted a letter of resignation to the Ministry of Justice.

Sang-Rok Lee myzodan@donga.com