The Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO; ) is a governmental
prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
organization in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
and is run under the
Ministry of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
. As a national representative of prosecutors, the Office works with the
Supreme Court of Korea
The Supreme Court of Korea () is the highest ordinary court in the judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Seocho, Seoul. Established under Chapter 5 of the Constitution of South Korea, the court has ultimate and comprehensive jurisdictio ...
and below.
Organization
It consists of:
*Supreme Prosecutors' Office (대검찰청) ; executive agency that oversees the Korean Public Prosecutors' Office.
*High Prosecutors' Office (고등검찰청) ; composed of different District Prosecutors' Office (지방검찰청)
**Seoul High Prosecutors' Office
***Within
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
: (Central District Prosecutors' Office; Eastern District Prosecutors' Office; Southern District Prosecutors' Office ; Northern District Prosecutors' Office; Western District Prosecutors' Office)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Chuncheon
Chuncheon (; ; literally ''spring river''), formerly romanized as Ch'unch'ŏn, is the capital of Gangwon Province, South Korea. The city lies in the north of the country, located in a basin formed by the Soyang River and Han River (Korea), Han R ...
(District Office of
Gangneung
Gangneung (; ) is a list of cities in South Korea, municipal city in Gangwon, South Korea, Gangwon province, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved Ja ...
; District Office of
Sokcho; District Office of
Wonju
Wonju (; ) is the most populous Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gangwon Province, South Korea, with a population of 364,860 as of 2023. The city is located approximately east of Seoul.
History
During the time of Joseon, Gr ...
; District Office of
Yeongwol)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Uijeongbu
Uijeongbu (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is the tenth-most populous city in the province and a suburb of Seoul within the greater Seoul Metropolitan Area.
History
Uijeongbu was estab ...
(District Office of
Goyang
Goyang (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's Satellite city, satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, w ...
; District Office of
Namyangju
Namyangju (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. To the east is Gapyeong County, to the west is Guri, and to the north is Pocheon. Namyangju was originally a southern part of Yangju-gun, but was separated into Namyangju-gun in April ...
)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Incheon
Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...
(District Office of
Bucheon
Bucheon (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Bucheon is located away from Seoul, of which it is a satellite city. It is located between Incheon and Seoul.
Bucheon is the second most densely populated city in South Korea after Seo ...
)
**Suwon High Prosecutors' Office
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Suwon
Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...
(District Office of
Seongnam
Seongnam (; ) is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. It consists of three administrative districts: Bundang District, J ...
; District Office of
Anyang
Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...
; District Office of
Ansan
Ansan (, ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and some islands lie ...
; District Office of
Pyeongtaek; District Office of
Yeoju
Yeoju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Yeoju was a county but was raised to the status of a city in September 2013. Together with the neighboring city of Icheon, it is known as a major ce ...
)
**Busan High Prosecutors' Office
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Busan
Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...
(Eastern District Office; Western District Office)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Ulsan
Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Changwon
Changwon (; ) is the capital and largest city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea (with a population of 1,025,702 ), and the 11th largest city of the South Korea, country. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south, and the ...
(District Office of
Masan
Masan () is an administrative region of Changwon, a city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae District, Jinhae. Masan was ...
; District Office of
Jinju
Jinju (; ) is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was the location of the first (1592) and second (1593) Sieges of Jinju by Japanese forces during the Imjin War. The Republic of Korea Air Force Education and Training Comman ...
; District Office of
Miryang; District Office of
Tongyeong; District Office of
Geochang)
**Daegu High Prosecutors' Office
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Daegu
Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...
(Western District Office; District Office of
Andong
Andong () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong Ri ...
; District Office of
Gyeongju
Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...
; District Office of
Yeongdeok; Branch Office of
Sangju
Sangju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Although Sangju is rather rural, it is very old and was once a key city. Along with Gyeongju, it gives rise to half of the name of the Gye ...
; District Office of
Uiseong
Uiseong County (''Uiseong-gun'') is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, South Korea. Located near the center of the province, it is bounded by Andong on the north, Cheongsong on the east, Gunwi County o ...
; District Office of
Pohang
Pohang (; ), formerly spelled Po-Hang, is the largest city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, with a List of cities in South Korea, population of 499,363 as of 2022, bordering the Sea of Japan, East Sea to the east, Yeongcheon to the w ...
; District Office of
Gimcheon
Gimcheon (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is situated on the major land transportation routes between Seoul and Busan, namely the Gyeongbu Expressway and Gyeongbu Line railway. ...
)
**Daejeon High Prosecutors' Office
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Daejeon
Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...
(District Office of
Hongseong ; Branch Office of
Gongju
Gongju (; ) is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea.
History
Gongju was formerly named Ungjin and was the capital of Baekje from AD 475 to 538. In this period, Baekje was under threat from Goguryeo. Goguryeo had overrun the previ ...
; District Office of
Nonsan; District Office of
Seosan; District Office of
Cheonan
Cheonan (; ) is the largest and most densely populated city of South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and the third largest city in the Hoseo region after Daejeon and Cheongju. Cheonan borders Gyeonggi Province ( Pyeongtaek and Anseong) i ...
)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Cheongju
Cheongju (; ) is the capital and largest list of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. The 'Cheong' in the name of Chungcheong Province is the Cheong of Cheongju.
History
Cheongju has been an important prov ...
(District Office of
Chungju
Chungju () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. Uamsan is a mountain located within the outskirts of the city.
The city is famous for the annual martial arts festival held in October. Al ...
; Branch Office of
Yeongdong; District Office of
Jecheon)
**Gwangju Public Prosecutors' Office
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Gwangju
Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...
( District Office of
Mokpo
Mokpo (; ) is the List of cities in South Korea, third largest and most densely populated city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, located at the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, close to Yudal mountain. Mokpo has frequent high-speed ...
; District Office of
Jangheung;Office of
Suncheon;District Office of
Haenam)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Jeonju
Jeonju (, , ) is the capital and List of cities in South Korea, largest city of North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is both urban and rural due to the closeness of Wanju County which almost entirely surrounds Jeonju (Wanju County has many resi ...
(District Office of
Gunsan; District Office of
Jeongeup; District Office of
Namwon
Namwon (, ) is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. Namwon is about 50 minutes from the provincial capital of Jeonju, which is almost three hours away from Seoul. The official city flower is Royal Azalea () while the city tree is the ...
)
***District Prosecutors' Office of
Jeju
Controversies
Since the latter half of the year 2010, the ruling political party in South Korea, the
Grand National Party
The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Han ...
, has an uneasy stance with the budget issues and eventually generated severe disputes relating to corruptions and it contributed to criticisms against the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
On 13 January 2012, the Seoul High Court cleared one of the bribery charges against Han Myeong-sook.
Prosecutor general
In 2011, a prosecutor general candidate, Han Sang-dae (한상대) was under investigation for his two incidents of false address registration and his participation of draft-dodging.
Civilian inspections
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office is alleged for hypocritical actions that it poorly managed the investigation of the illegal political-level inspections towards civilian institutions in 2010, however restricted an episode of
MBC PD Note about this incident.
Right-wing political policing
The SPO under the
Lee Myung-bak government
The Cabinet of Lee Myung-bak () was the fifth government of the History of South Korea#Sixth Republic (1988–present), Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 South Korean presid ...
has right-wing political characteristics. There was a series of allegations of sabotages against the current non-partisan mayor,
Park Won-soon, by the SPO before the October 2011 election. Politicians who had supported former president
Roh Moo-hyun
Roh Moo-hyun (, ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008.
Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...
also supported Park Won-soon under a unified intention to oppose the current SPO. The SPO's investigations against
Han Myeong-sook has led to more controversy as the Seoul High Court has found her innocent twice in the row. However, the SPO has immediately appealed the decision, citing 11 different counts of evidence. Amongst them were direct statements by Han man-ho that he paid her 900,000,000 won in illegal fund money, Han Myeong-sook's siblings usage 100,000,000 won checks, and 240,000,000 won in Mrs. Han's bank account that had a 'suspicious trail'. The SPO alleges that Han Myeong-sook's assistant was taking the fall to cover for her illegal activities.
Sexual favors
In November 2012, it was alleged a 30-year-old trainee prosecutor, was found to have performed sexual acts in the office with the suspect in her 40s while questioning her over an alleged theft and other charges earlier that month. According to inspectors at the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office (SPO) four days later, he took the woman to a nearby motel where they had sex. Jae-mong Jeon, the junior prosecutor, also a
patent attorney
A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and o ...
and a graduate of
Seoul National University
Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities.
The university's main c ...
and
Hanyang Law School, claims the sex was consensual, according to investigators. The incident has rocked the Korean Prosecutors Office to the core and resulted in a strong reprimand from the president and prompt resignation of the Chief Prosecutor.
G20 summit poster incident
There was an incident where a university instructor, Park Jeong-su, vandalized a G-20 promotional poster by drawing a rat before the
2010 G-20 Seoul summit. His prosecution by the SPO has exposed concerns that the SPO is politically leaned to serve the Lee Myung-bak government.
Impact
Baek Hye-ryun (백혜련), the female district attorney of the Daegu District Public Prosecutor's Office, voluntarily resigned on 21 November 2011 as the SPO cannot officially maintain its political neutrality under the Lee Myung-bak government.
The former chief secretary to late President
Roh Moo-hyun
Roh Moo-hyun (, ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008.
Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...
,
Moon Jae-in
Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...
suggested that the SPO's resistance against reformations during the previous Participation Government, in which it also succeeded as the spearhead of the right-wing Lee Myung-bak government, eventually contributed to the ''unjust'' investigations against Roh in 2009.
Abuse of citizens
On 26 October 2011, the
Seoul Central District Court appealed against the SPO for continuing an abusive investigation of a child sex abuse case; demanded the government to compensate the family members of the case in question.
Yoon Seokyeol's resignation
Yoon Suk-Yeol, who was
Moon Jae-in
Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...
the government's second attorney general against major criminal investigation office of the promotion and resigned. He received public attention due to conflicts with the Ministry of Justice, disciplinary action against suspension of work and the court's decision to reject suspension of work. He has topped the presidential survey since his resignation.
Reputation
The 47.1% of South Korean disapproved the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the credibility was scored low at 4 out of 10, According to the survey conducted in 2009.
Overall general consensus amongst the Korean media rates the Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea as having very low credibility.
Calls for reform
The power of the prosecutor’s office has been called into question recently with people expressing outrage over the multiple scandals that have occurred within the office and the relationship between the office and business conglomerates. President Moon has drafted prosecution reforms to redistribute some of the power given to the prosecutor's office. The reforms will give back some of the control of criminal investigations to police officers. The point of this would be to distribute the power in the criminal investigations and prevent the prosecutors from acting on behalf of business conglomerates. Another aspect of the reform would be to establish a task force that would investigate high-level corruption.
An issue Moon faced with the implementation of his policies was probing his newly appointed Justice Minister, Cho Kuk in 2019. Cho was given the responsibility of overseeing these reforms. The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into Cho’s family, specifically looking into his wife and daughter. These investigators found that Cho’s daughter was gaining from her father’s status which is not seen as fraud but only a product of privilege. The pressures from the investigation became too much that Cho eventually stepped down from his position only six weeks later. The fate of these reforms is caught in the balance between the democratic party and the conservatives who have been backing the prosecutor's office.
President Moon has continued to fight for the implementation of these reforms. In January 2020, Choo Mi-ae became the Justice Minister and worked alongside Moon to limit the prosecutor's office and get the reforms through the legislature.
See also
*
Prosecutor General of South Korea
*
Ministry of Justice (South Korea)
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ; ) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Government of South Korea that oversees the justice and legal affairs, protection of human rights, crime prevention and immigration control. It is headed by the Ministry of Justic ...
References
External links
*
Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea
{{authority control
Government agencies of South Korea
Prosecution services