Kwon Nae-geon, a Justice Ministry legal affairs officer (35th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) regarded as one of the prosecution's top experts on crimes involving women and children, has submitted his resignation. As prosecutors continue to leave the service ahead of the scheduled abolition of the Prosecution Service in October, the departure of a mid-ranking official (deputy chief prosecutor-level) certified as a Level 2 Blue Belt specialist prosecutor in women and family policy has fueled concerns about a deepening personnel shortage in the prosecution.
According to legal sources on the 25th, Kwon posted a message on the prosecution's internal network, e-Pros, saying, "I am saying goodbye as I am resigning for personal reasons." He added, "Not long ago, a reporter asked me, 'If you had to define the prosecution in one sentence, how would you explain it?' Shamefully, despite having served as a prosecutor for 20 years, I could not give an immediate answer, and even after long reflection, I could not find a precise one."
Kwon continued, "In the end, I still have not found the right answer, but in the process of looking back on myself and pondering that question, what became clear to me were the strengths I held as a prosecutor. Once I became aware of unjust conduct or painful circumstances that weighed too heavily on my conscience to simply ignore, being able not to turn away from them — that was the driving force that allowed me to work as a prosecutor for so long with a sense of purpose, and it is the strength of the current prosecution system." He added, "I believe not only I but everyone who has worked here has shared the same sentiment."
Regarding the planned establishment of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Public Prosecution Agency — which will take over the prosecution's existing special investigation functions after its abolition — he said, "I sincerely hope that situations where one must pretend not to see injustice and suffer in silence, or where one faces another's pain but can do little and is left helpless, will never arise in the future."
Kwon had served since January as the Justice Ministry's legal affairs officer, handling legal advisory work for government agencies and authoritative interpretations of statutes under the ministry's jurisdiction. Previously, he served as chief of Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office, human rights planning officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and public affairs officer at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
Within the prosecution, he is known for his strong interest in crimes against women and children and his extensive investigative expertise. A certified Blue Belt specialist in women and family policy, Kwon, while serving in the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division at the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, used his prosecutorial authority to register the birth of a child who had been neglected without a birth registration, enabling the child to receive various forms of support. It was the first case in which a prosecutor registered a child's birth through official authority.
He also drew attention for being the first to apply a suspended indictment conditional on educational counseling in a sexual assault case involving a person with a developmental disability. During his tenure as human rights planning officer at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, he introduced measures such as allowing visually impaired individuals involved in criminal cases to review their own interrogation records using audio-conversion barcodes, earning him a reputation as a prosecutor devoted to protecting minorities and the vulnerable.
Meanwhile, according to the Justice Ministry, 58 prosecutors resigned in the first quarter of this year. Last year, 175 prosecutors left the service — including 66 rank-and-file prosecutors — the largest annual departure on record.
With successive resignations compounded by dispatches to various special counsel teams, cases have piled up on the remaining prosecutors, sharply increasing the backlog of unresolved cases and effectively paralyzing prosecution operations.
Amid the excessive workload, the number of cases indicted by the prosecution in the first quarter also fell by 7,500 from a year earlier. According to statistics from the National Court Administration, first-instance criminal trial cases filed with the courts in the first quarter totaled 39,500, down 16% from the same period last year. By contrast, cases received by the prosecution actually increased. A total of 298,800 cases were filed with the prosecution in the first quarter, up 3.6% from a year earlier.
