the airlift that's over the hump with "wolf's ashes"...there's a lot of cases, but there's still a shortage of manpower.

[Anchor]
Four high-ranking public officials' criminal investigation office prosecutors managed to overcome the crisis of vacancy as they were reappointed due to the imminent expiration of their terms.

While a complaint about the luxury bag case of Yoon Suk Yeol's first wife, Kim Gun-hee, and the suspicion of nomination intervention has been filed, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is still complaining of manpower shortages.

Reporter Shin Ji-won reports.

[Reporter]
Four high-ranking public officials' criminal investigation offices have been reappointed just two days before their term expires.

Among them, Lee Dae-hwan, a senior prosecutor in the fourth division of the investigation, and Cha Jung-hyun, an investigative planning officer, have been in charge of external pressure on the corporal investigation with the so-called "VIP outrage" scandal, and have been in charge of investigating Kim Gun-hee's alleged involvement in the nomination, which involved political broker Myung Tae-kyun.

[Dongwoon Oh / Senior Civil Servant Crime Investigation Director (National Audit on the 25th): We will do our best in accordance with the laws and principles for the crimes that are subject to our investigation.]

As it took more than two months for the presidential office to approve consecutive terms of prosecutors in cases directly or indirectly related to the presidential office, there have also been concerns that presidential personnel rights affect the investigation.

[Park Jung-hoon / Former head of the Marine Corps Investigation Team (National Audit on the 25th): The fact that he is giving a second term to the president at the end of the term itself seems to send a message to the investigation or make it difficult to do so....]

The prosecutor of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit can serve three consecutive terms with a three-year term, but his status is unstable because he has to go through screening and approval every time.

Another problem is that despite the four consecutive terms this time, the number of prosecutors at the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is 15, which is still less than 25 people.

More than 2,000 complaints and accusations are received every year, but prosecutors are leaving one after another.

From the last week of October to the 4th of next month, the Senior Prosecutor and Public Prosecutor's Office is openly recruiting seven people.

However, as the hiring process takes months, the actual recruitment of manpower is not expected to be possible until next year.

I'm Shin Jiwon of YTN.

Video editing: Eunji Kang
Design: Lee Wonhee