Unsolved cases exceed 22,000 as prosecution reform looms

A sign outside the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul's Seocho District / Yonhap

As reforms to the Government Organization Act move closer to dismantling the Prosecution Service, a surge in backlogged investigations, which now includes some 22,000 cases, is emerging as a pressing concern.

The surge in unresolved, long-pending cases has created a backlog that is now the largest it’s been in a decade. This has the potential to turn into a dire public trust crisis and fuel concern that the nation’s justice system is grinding to a halt even before the structural dissolution of the Prosecution Service is finalized next year. It also stokes fears of an exodus of experienced prosecutors that could impact the service’s investigative capacity.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Friday pushed through the first major government reorganization bill under the Lee Jae Myung administration, dismantling the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office after 78 years and creating separate agencies to handle investigative and prosecutorial functions.

Data from the Ministry of Justice, obtained by Rep. Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party on Sunday, showed that the number of cases pending for more than three months reached 22,564 as of July.

The surge in Korea’s investigative backlog began with the 2021 legislative reforms — amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors’ Office Act — which sharply curtailed the power and scope of the Prosecution Service. Long-term unresolved cases numbered 11,008 in 2020 but dropped temporarily to 4,426 in 2021, during the transition. The figure then climbed steadily, reaching 9,268 in 2022, 14,421 in 2023 and 18,198 in 2024.

Cases pending for more than three months now account for a significantly larger share of the total caseload under prosecution investigation, surging from 13.7 percent in 2021 to 28.2 percent last year.

The number of cases unresolved for more than six months has also risen, from 2,503 in 2021 to 9,123 in 2023 and to 9,988 as of July this year.

Within the prosecution, officials have voiced concerns that the adjustment of investigative powers has complicated case procedures and significantly increased the workload of criminal investigation departments, which are already strained by staff shortages.

Adding to the backlog, the creation of a special counsel team earlier this year to investigate allegations surrounding former President Yoon Seok Yeol’s sudden martial law declaration late last year, which diverted personnel, further hampered efforts to resolve pending cases.

As the revision of the Government Organization Act focuses on abolishing the prosecution office and creating two new agencies to assume its investigative and indictment capacities, critics warn that measures to address the growing backlog of long-term unresolved cases must be put in place quickly.

If the prosecution office is dismantled without resolving the issue, the responsibility for these cases will fall to either the police or the soon-to-be-established agency tasked with investigating serious crimes.

The handover could lead to further delays due to potential confusion over the division of responsibilities between agencies and gaps in the investigative process during the transition.