Justice Ministry halts expansion of prosecution service’s digital forensics center, citing planned restructuring and relocation

South Korea’s Justice Ministry has stopped and begun a full review of an expansion project for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s National Digital Forensics Center, a plan that has been pursued since 2021 and is expected to cost more than 50 billion won.

The ministry said the project originally moved forward because the center’s building, completed in 2008, was aging, while forensic personnel and equipment had reached capacity and safety concerns had emerged. But it said the project had proceeded at a practical level without considering the separation of investigative and prosecutorial powers or plans to relocate government institutions to Sejong.

The decision is being interpreted as a response to political criticism over whether it is appropriate to push ahead with an expensive expansion when forensic investigation at major-crime scenes is due to move to the planned Serious Crime Investigation Agency.

The ministry said it would reconsider the project in full, taking into account the transfer of major-crime forensic functions and planned changes to organizations and staffing following the launch of the future Prosecution Office and Serious Crime Investigation Agency.