The South Korean government is reviewing two newly constructed buildings in the Euljiro area of central Seoul as leading candidates to house the Major Crimes Investigation Agency (MCIA), which is scheduled to open this October. With the National Police Agency and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency already based in the area, the addition of the MCIA is expected to establish northern Seoul as the country's primary hub for major investigative bodies. However, concerns are emerging that preparations for the new criminal justice framework — including the staffing and organizational structure of the MCIA and the Public Prosecution Office — could be delayed, as key legislative revisions, such as those determining whether prosecutors will retain supplementary investigative authority, have yet to gain momentum.
According to legal sources on Wednesday, the government is seriously considering two newly constructed buildings in Seoul's Jung-gu district as candidate sites for the MCIA headquarters. The government has reportedly decided to co-locate the MCIA headquarters and the Seoul Regional Major Crimes Investigation Bureau in a single building to be determined.
"The MCIA building needs to be a newly constructed facility that can be occupied by July or August at the latest, since preparatory work such as connecting to the Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services (KICS) is required," a legal source said. "The government had at one point considered a new building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, but that building is not scheduled for completion until September, which was deemed too tight a schedule to prepare the KICS connection and other systems."
After its October launch, the MCIA plans to temporarily connect to and use the police's KICS system. The MCIA's preparatory team recently signed a KICS lease agreement with the police, according to sources.
Alongside lease terms, the government is placing particular emphasis on "investigative security" when reviewing candidate sites. Since various types of investigative materials will be handled within the building, key considerations include whether outside access can be restricted and whether movement paths can be separated. Building A in Jung-gu, Seoul, presents a challenge in that two to three floors would remain vacant even after accommodating all expected personnel from both the MCIA headquarters and the Seoul Regional Bureau. If the remaining space were leased to outside tenants, the burden of security management could increase. Building B has a so-called "twin building" structure, which raises the additional variable of needing further measures for access control and path separation.
With the review of candidate sites now in full swing, preparations for launching the new criminal justice system appear to be on track. However, within the legal community, there are considerable concerns about whether the MCIA and the Public Prosecution Office will be able to open in October as originally planned, as key legal issues — including whether prosecutors will retain supplementary investigative authority — have yet to be resolved.
Some in the legal community are concerned that delays in legislative revisions over whether to grant supplementary investigative authority to prosecutors could trigger a chain of delays affecting the legally mandated staffing levels, organizational structures, and building sizes of the MCIA and the Public Prosecution Office. "There is talk that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Justice — which will oversee the MCIA and the Public Prosecution Office, respectively — are at odds over future personnel composition, including prosecution investigators," a legal source said. "With the question of supplementary investigative authority still unresolved, the two sides appear unable to narrow their differences over the scale of personnel needed."
He added, "The legal staffing levels must be determined before the organizational structure and building size can be decided. For this reason, concerns are being raised that there may not be enough time to open not only the MCIA but also the Public Prosecution Office by October."
