South Korea's Justice Ministry plans to keep the prosecutor headcount at 2,292 when the country's new prosecution-office structure begins in October, according to draft rules reported by Korean media. The plan preserves the current number of prosecutors even as the broader organization is being redesigned around a separation of investigation and prosecution functions.
The transition is part of a larger criminal-justice restructuring. Under the new system, police and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency are expected to take primary investigative roles, while the new prosecution office focuses on indictments, trial work and related case review. Korean reporting says the ministry's latest draft would reduce some senior positions while increasing the relative number of rank-and-file prosecutors.
Staffing stays level while responsibilities shift
The staffing decision has become contentious because the workload expected of prosecutors is changing rather than disappearing. Supporters of a smaller corps argue that removing direct and supplementary investigative powers should allow the organization to shrink. Prosecutors and other critics of that view say requests for additional investigation, decisions on whether cases should proceed and courtroom responsibilities could still require substantial staffing.
The ministry's draft also changes parts of the internal structure. Reporting says a proposed judicial-control division would instead be named a non-referral review division, reflecting a role in examining cases that police do not send forward. The exact division of labor between investigators and prosecutors will matter for how quickly disputed or incomplete cases move through the system.
October puts pressure on unfinished details
The timetable adds operational pressure. The current Prosecutors' Office is scheduled to disappear in early October, while parts of the organizational design and senior leadership arrangements have remained unsettled close to the transition date. That raises the possibility of administrative friction even if the total prosecutor headcount remains unchanged.
Keeping 2,292 prosecutors therefore answers only one part of the transition. The effectiveness of the new structure will depend on where those prosecutors are assigned, how review powers are defined and how cases move between investigative agencies and the prosecution office after the new system begins.