🇰🇷⚖️Prosecution Service Abolished Just 16 Months Into Lee Jae-myung Administration — Rushed Overhaul Sparks Massive Chaos and Rising Crime Fears
Just 16 months into the Lee Jae-myung administration, South Korea’s Prosecution Service has been abolished after 78 years. While major judicial overhauls typically require years of thorough review, the process was rushed through, leaving investigative operations in severe disarray with unresolved issues piling up.
Problems are mounting rapidly across the entire system. The Criminal Justice Information System (KICS) remains unintegrated, causing severe operational disruptions. Some new branch offices contain nothing but desks, completely lacking basic investigation equipment. On top of this, investigators received transfer orders just 2 to 3 days before launch, leaving virtually no time for case handovers.
Staffing crises and case backlogs further compound the issue. Recruitment stands at only around 66% of capacity, leading to immediate work overloads. Crucially, it remains entirely unclear who will inherit the roughly 160,000 pending cases previously handled by prosecutors, raising serious fears of a massive investigative vacuum.
Adding to the panic, strong concerns are growing that criminals will exploit these systemic loopholes and investigative gaps, triggering a surge in crime. Citizens are now left holding their breath in deep anxiety, nervously watching how this unprecedented legal paralysis unfolds.