Korea's Major Crimes Investigation Agency opens with a third of its senior investigator posts filled

Authorized investigator posts below the chief come to 2,566 on Seoul Economic Daily's figures: 629 at Grade 5 and above, plus 1,937 at Grade 6 and below ^[4][5][1]. Against that base, the 1,674 first-round appointees fill 65.24% ^[3][2]. The paper attaches the same 65.24% to a larger total, the 1,875 the agency would reach if all 201 second-round applicants were appointed ^[6]. The percentage most likely belongs to the first round. Divided by 2,566, the 1,875 ceiling is about 73%, and even that leaves 691 posts empty ^[3][6].

Where the gaps sit matters more than the total. Posts at Grade 6 and below are about 75% filled ^[4]. At Grade 5 and above, 417 of 629 are still empty ^[5]. Assignments lag even for people already hired. "I have to report to work at the Major Crimes Investigation Agency starting on the 2nd, and I still do not even know which division I am going to," said one prosecution official whose special appointment has been confirmed ^[1]. A second prosecution official, who asked not to be named, said, "The opening is right in front of us, and we have yet to confirm not only the head of the agency but even the regional chiefs in Seoul, Busan, Suwon, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju" ^[9]. The same official said, "With the inaugural MCIA chief post vacant, additional hiring from outside the service needs to be pursued urgently" ^[8].

The bureaus that handle fraud and financial crime belong to the Seoul regional office. A floor directory outside Renaissance Square puts the Seoul Regional MCIA on the second through fifth floors and headquarters on the seventh and eighth ^[10]. The Economic Investigation Bureau, the Financial Crime Investigation Bureau and the Joint Voice Phishing Investigation Division share the third and fourth floors with the anti-corruption and advanced investigation bureaus ^[11]. "There is talk that offices at headquarters and the Seoul office are still not properly prepared," the unnamed official said ^[12]. A legal source said, "Computer towers have arrived at headquarters and the Seoul office, but monitors have not, and there are even rumors that regional offices have neither and will have to use rental laptops from outside" ^[13]. Another legal source said, "Some expect it will take another one to two months before an environment for actually conducting investigations is in place" ^[14]. That source also said KICS, the criminal justice information system, was not properly connected ^[15].

The next two months can go three ways. Outside hiring could fill the chief and regional posts quickly and lift the upper tier well past a third. The equipment complaints, most of them framed as talk or rumor ^[12][17], could prove overstated, and the agency works from its first day. Or the one-to-two-month estimate holds, and cases bound for the Seoul economic and financial crime bureaus wait while the upper grades are still being hired.

I think the third is likeliest. Monitors can be delivered in a week; 417 empty upper-grade posts and seven unconfirmed leadership jobs take hiring ^[5][7], and the interior ministry's launch team was still notifying second-round appointees on Sept. 28 ^[7]. The counter-case is that the agency opens with its lower tier three-quarters staffed ^[4] and can run cases on that tier while the chiefs are found. The view is wrong if the Seoul bureaus are running cases within weeks of the opening, well inside the two-month estimate.