Prosecutor’s Office May Double Number of Prosecutors in Charge of Trials

The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office has decided to seek fundamental solutions, including increasing the number of prosecutors in charge of trials, to about double the present number, concerning the focus of recent judicial changes from protocols to trials.

A high-ranking official from the prosecutor’s office said yesterday, “The number of prosecutors in charge of trials is presently 184, which means one prosecutor handles two courts. Therefore, there is an indication that it isn’t dedicated to trials,” and added, “We are considering increasing the number of prosecutors so that one prosecutor can be in charge of one court.”

However, if the number of prosecutors in charge of trials increases, with no change in the gross number of prosecutors, the number of prosecutors belonging to criminal departments will decrease instead, which is expected to lead to discussion about the expansion issue of increasing the overall number of prosecutor personnel.

The prosecutor’s office is also said to be going ahead with a plan to make the Legal Research and Training Institute issue a “guidebook” to help increase the defensive capabilities in court, judging that recent criminal trials are transforming into examples of the “parties principle” in which the truth is being found out through the interplay between offense and defense in court.

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