Collective Leadership for Prosecutors?

The prosecution is attempting to implement an unprecedented “collective leadership system” from the current “one-man ruling system” in which the top prosecutor alone reports on major issues and makes decisions.

This decision is attracting the public’s attention because the current one-man ruling system, based on top-down and one-body principles, has been the decision-making and management principle of the prosecution for the 60 years since Korea claimed independence.

According to the Ministry of Justice on Sunday, the nominee for the post of prosecutor general, Jeong Sang-myeong, is in discussions with the ministry to nominate Lim Seung-gwan as the deputy prosecutor general.

Lim passed the state bar exam in the same year as Jeong and is the current head of the Busan High Prosecutors Office.

In addition, discussions are also underway regarding retaining Lee Jong-baek of the district public prosecutor’s office in Seoul, and Ahn Dae-hee, head of the Seoul High Prosecutors Office.

If his plan is realized, prosecutors who passed the 17th state bar exam would hold the posts of prosecutor general, deputy prosecutor general, head of the Seoul High Prosecutors Office, and the head of the district public prosecutor’s office in Seoul.

Jeong is purportedly devising ways to establish a collective leadership system in form as well as content by discussing major issues with the would-be nominees or letting them decide on their own.

“I will give substantial authority to the prosecution officials, including the deputy prosecutor general, enabling them to make decisions, and I will be briefed on the final report and bear the ultimate responsibility,” Jeong said recently.

“Many people urge the prosecution to make drastic changes. They are well aware of whether management should be regulated in a pyramidal way or through a democratic process of dialogue,” he said at a press conference on October 24.

jin0619@donga.com