South Korea’s prosecution system entered its final day before reorganization with 186,307 unresolved cases nationwide, according to agency data reported by Maeil Shinmun and Yonhap News. The total, measured at the end of September, was the highest on record as the former prosecution offices prepared to close on October 1 and transition toward a new prosecution agency and the planned Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
The backlog rose by 21,485 cases, or about 13 percent, from 164,822 at the end of August. It had stood at 140,513 at the end of June, meaning nearly 46,000 cases were added in three months. The pace of that increase indicates that the institutional transition is beginning with a substantially heavier caseload than officials faced at the start of the summer.
Agency officials attributed the accumulation to an existing shortage of prosecutors, personnel assigned to special counsel investigations and departures ahead of the new investigative body’s launch. These pressures reduce the number of officials available to review incoming files even as cases continue to arrive from police and other investigative authorities.
Transferred cases dominate the accumulated workload
More than 99 percent of the unresolved cases were sent by police or special judicial police, rather than opened directly by prosecutors. The receiving prosecution agency must decide whether to indict, close a case or request supplementary investigation. A larger queue therefore risks extending the time before suspects, victims and other parties receive a prosecutorial decision.
- End of June
- 140,513 unresolved cases
- End of August
- 164,822 unresolved cases
- End of September
- 186,307 unresolved cases
Cases initiated directly by prosecutors are being transferred sequentially to other investigative bodies. Some may continue to be handled temporarily under existing arrangements when concerns such as an approaching statute of limitations apply. The key measure of the transition will be whether staffing and case-transfer procedures can slow the monthly increase while preserving timely charging and review decisions.