Ruling Party and Government Weigh Renaming Prosecution Office's 'Judicial Control Department'

The ruling party, government, and presidential office have decided to review changing the name of the 'Judicial Control Department'—set to be created within the Prosecution Office (the new agency taking over the indictment function from prosecutors, launching October 2)—to the 'Non-Referral Case Review Department' (a unit that re-examines cases police did not forward). Lee Yong-woo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, said at a briefing after the 11th Senior Party-Government Council held at the Prime Minister's residence in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 13th: "We have agreed to actively review changing the contested name as well as the organizational structure, including the prosecution planning officers and serious crime planning officers." Separately, the Ministry of Justice is pushing a plan under its draft statute for the Prosecution Office to cut investigators and staff in the investigative divisions by 50.2 percent, from the current 4,284 to 2,133.

Spurred by the recent disappearance case on Jeju Island, the party and government also agreed to establish dedicated missing-person investigation units at the National Police Agency and provincial police agencies, and to expand nighttime missing-person personnel at local police stations. They will continue discussing legislation of a Missing Adults Act that would allow location tracking of high-risk missing adults without a warrant. The spokesperson said party chief Kim Min-seok instructed that "police reform must proceed even more forcefully than prosecution reform."

At the same meeting, the party and government decided to spend 193 billion won on discounts for agricultural, livestock, and marine products and supply 185,000 tons of essential goods to stabilize prices ahead of the Chuseok holiday. On the issue of jeonse and monthly rentals, they agreed to keep monitoring the situation at future Senior Party-Government Council meetings.