Judge, prosecutor jobs not for dual citizenship holders

By Kim Rahn

Judges and prosecutors will remain as jobs that multiple citizenship holders are barred from working at.

The Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday that it will amend the law on the employment of prosecutors and judges to keep those with multiple nationalities from working at the prosecution or court.

The move is a measure to prevent possible leakage of state secrets and to maintain national security, the ministry said.

“We see it is improper for multiple citizenship holders to take part in investigations related to national security or state secrets, because in such cases Korea’s interest sometimes clashes with other countries,” a ministry official said.

Those with multiple citizenships must give up their foreign nationalities if they want to become prosecutors, judges or engage in other types of employment at the prosecution or the court.

The revision is a follow-up measure to the new Nationality Law, which became effective in January and allows dual citizenship on a limited basis. The law allows multiple citizenship to foreigners with outstanding talent, Korean adoptees, immigrants with Korean spouses, or ethnic Koreans aged over 65 who seek to spend the rest of their lives here, if they vow not to exercise their rights as a foreign national while in Korea.

“Besides the prosecution and the court, multi-citizenship holders are barred from such jobs as those dealing with state secrets, state interests or other foreign affairs, including the police, civil servants in charge of foreign affairs, National Intelligence Service agents, immigration officers and military officers,” he said.

Each ministry or state organization is working on a law revision about staff employment to exclude multiple citizenship holders.

In the case of police, a related law has already been passed at the National Assembly and those maintaining foreign nationalities will not be able to become police officers starting from next February, according to the official.

“In such jobs, people with a nationality other than Korean may make decisions that prefer the other country’s interests to Korea’s. At the court, too, if a judge in cases about state secrets has dual citizenship, the public may not trust the judge’s ruling,” he said.

The official said the Assembly is likely to pass the revision on employment in the prosecution and courts during the regular session this fall, and the new regulation, if passed, will take effect in the first half of next year.