Administrative costs to change prosecution service approach $5 million
The Justice Ministry is allocating 6.5 billion won to remove prosecution signage and symbols on government buildings, with additional costs expected to update subway maps, public signs and other infrastructure nationwide.
Visible traces remain from where the prosecution logo was removed from the current Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Sept. 29, ahead of the abolition of the former prosecution service and the launch of the new Public Prosecution Service and Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.KIM JONG-HO
The Justice Ministry has allocated 6.5 billion won ($4.8 million) from its reserve fund to remove the logos and signs of the current prosecutors offices from government buildings as part of preparations for the prosecutorial overhaul.
The money will be used to remove prosecution logos and lettering from the exterior walls and windows of 67 prosecution office buildings nationwide. The total cost of erasing traces of the current prosecution offices could rise further once expenses for replacing subway maps, subway station exit signs, road markings and other signs are taken into account.
The newly established Public Prosecution Service, which will replace the current prosecutors offices starting with its launch on Friday, has decided to temporarily use the taegeuk symbol representing the Korean government instead of the prosecution’s existing logo. The Taegeuk is a circular symbol representing blue-colored yin and red-colored yang, resembling the Korean national flag.
Until last month, officials had considered retaining the prosecution logo and even conducted an internal preference survey solely on the font to be used for the name of the new Public Prosecution Service. The decision was later reversed in response to public criticism.
Work is already underway at the current Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to remove prosecution logos and names from exterior walls and windows. Some buildings have already installed signs bearing the name of the new prosecution service.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office will have to spend 200 million won to remove an illuminated installation featuring the five-bamboo-stalk logo used by the prosecution since 2004, along with its electrical equipment. The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office is also estimated to need 170 million won to remove the prosecution logo from the exterior of its building.
Once the exterior work is completed, substantial additional spending will likely be required to remove logos and names from inside the buildings, overhaul websites including the Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services (KICS) and replace business cards and identification cards.
Subway maps, platform signs and exit names will also have to be changed.
Seoul Metro estimates it will cost over 1.1 billion won to remove references to the former prosecution service from various signs and replace related announcements, according to data obtained by Rep. Park Sang-woong of the opposition People Power Party.
Workers remove a sign for the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office on Sept. 29 ahead of the launch of the new Prosecution Service.YONHAP
Another 112 million won is set to be spent on replacing maps and signs on the privately operated Subway Line No. 9 and the Ui-Sinseol and Sillim light lines. Additional funds will be needed to replace bus route maps and bus stop signs. The Seoul Metropolitan Government estimates that replacing 75 signs alone will cost 62 million won.
The Justice Ministry also announced the first round of personnel appointments to the new prosecution service on Tuesday.
Park Jin-sung, head of the planning department at the Institute of Justice, was appointed the inaugural chief of the new Public Prosecution Service’s serious crimes department, which combines the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Anti-corruption Department and Narcotics and Organized Crime Department.
Choi Ji-seok, head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Department of National Security, Election and Labor, will lead the new Public Prosecution Service's public safety department. Lee Eung-chul, currently head of the Justice Ministry’s Criminal Affairs Bureau, was transferred to lead the new criminal justice bureau, which will replace it.
Most heads of the regional public prosecution offices, which correspond to the current high prosecutors’ offices, and district public prosecution offices, which replace the current district prosecutors’ offices, will be drawn from the incumbent chief prosecutors.
Park Cheol-woo, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, was transferred to head the new Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Seo Jeong-min, head of the Justice Ministry’s Legal Affairs Bureau, was appointed chief of the new Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, a post set to become vacant after Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office chief Lim Eun-jung applied for a special appointment to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
