Diary of a Prosecutor

Diary of a Prosecutor^[1] (Korean: 검사내전; RR: Geomsanaejeon) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Lee Sun-kyun, Jung Ryeo-won, Lee Sung-jae, Kim Kwang-kyu, Lee Sang-hee and Jeon Sung-woo. Based on an essay by prosecutor Kim Woong, it aired on JTBC on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:30 (KST) from December 16, 2019 to February 11, 2020.^[2][3][4]

Diary of a Prosecutor
Promotional poster
Also known as	War of Prosecutors
Hangul	검사내전
Literal meaning	Prosecutor Civil War
Revised Romanization	Geomsanaejeon
Genre	Legal drama
Created by	Park Yeon-seon
Based on	Prosecutor Civil War by Kim Woong
Developed by	JTBC
Written by	Lee Hyun Seo Ja-yeon
Directed by	Lee Tae-gon
Starring	Lee Sun-kyun Jung Ryeo-won Lee Sung-jae Kim Kwang-kyu Lee Sang-hee Jeon Sung-woo
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Producer	Oh Nam-seok
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	S-PEACE
Original release
Network	JTBC
Release	December 16, 2019 (2019-12-16) – February 11, 2020 (2020-02-11)

Synopsis

The story follows the daily lives of overworked prosecutors in the fictional city of Jinyoung, South Korea.

Cast

Main

• Lee Sun-kyun as Lee Sun-woong^[5]

The narrator of the story. Sun-woong is a passionate prosecutor of Criminal Unit 2, who entered the prosecution ten years ago. He comes from a wealthy background and has been acquainted with Myung-joo back since university, though the latter dislikes him for being unaware of how privileged he is. He is often in disagreement with Myung-joo after she becomes his colleague.

• Jung Ryeo-won as Cha Myung-joo^[5]

Formerly a successful prosecutor in Seoul, Myung-joo has no choice but to move to Jinyoung and work at the District Prosecutors' Office until she can go back to the capital. She was Sun-woong's junior at university, but she entered the prosecution one year earlier than him. She tends not to spend useless time on cases, and thus appears careless in the eyes of some of her colleagues.

• Lee Sung-jae as Jo Min-ho^[6]

Chief of Jinyoung District Prosecutor's Office's Criminal Unit 2, Min-ho has been a prosecutor for 18 years. He cannot bear that his team keeps coming second in the office. Following an incident in Seoul, he succeeds in convincing her of joining his unit and hopes that her arrival will raise his team's results.

• Kim Kwang-kyu as Hong Jong-hak^[7]

A prosecutor with 14 years of experience.

• Lee Sang-hee as Oh Yoon-jin^[8]

A working mother who has been a prosecutor for 4 years.

• Jeon Sung-woo as Kim Jung-woo^[9]

The youngest prosecutor of Criminal Unit 2. Myung-joo becomes his mentor soon after settling in Jinyoung, replacing Sun-woong. Jung-woo enjoys going on dates, but his workload usually prevents him from doing so. He doesn't have any real passion for his job, and only decided to become a prosecutor because the profession is well seen by others.

Supporting

• Baek Hyun-joo as Jang Man-ok

An investigator with 30 years of experience who usually works closely with Sun-woong.

• Ahn Chang-hwan as Lee Jeong-hwan

An investigator with 8 years of experience who is appointed to Myung-joo's office.

• Ahn Eun-jin as Seong Mi-ran

An assistant with 3 years of experience who is very quiet and only speaks when necessary.

• Jung Jae-sung as Kim In-joo

A prosecutor with 24 years of experience, and the head of the branch.

• Kim Yong-hee as Chief Nam

A prosecutor with 18 years of experience who entered the prosecution the same year as Min-ho.

• Shin Cheol-jin as Ryu-jin
• Park Sung-yeon as Kang Young-hee
• Cha Soon-bae as Choi Tae-joong, a lawyer.
• Kwak Ja-young as Lee Soon-chul, a shaman.
• Son Kyung-won as Kim Young-chun, an industrial worker.

Production

Aerial photo of Tongyeong where filming took place.

Screenwriter Park Yeon-seon, who created the series, and director Lee Tae-gon previously worked together on the television series Hello, My Twenties! (2016) and its sequel Hello, My Twenties! 2 (2017).^[10]

The first script reading took place in July 2019 at JTBC Building in Sangam-dong, Seoul, South Korea.^[11]

Filming and promotion

Filming began on August 24, 2019, and wrapped up on January 22, 2020.^[12][13] Scenes taking place in the fictional city of Jinyoung were filmed in Tongyeong, in South Gyeongsang Province, where more than 150 members of the cast and crew resided during the five months of filming.^[14]

The series showcase took place at Imperial Palace Seoul on December 16, 2019, a few hours before the premiere, in presence of the six main actors.^[15]

Original soundtrack

Diary of a Prosecutor OST
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	2020
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Mirror Ball Music Studio FAME

Part 1

Released on February 4, 2020 (2020-02-04)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Fog Blues" (물안개 블루스)	Kim Young-min Lee Jae-jin	Kim Young-min	Young Tak	3:24
2.	"Fog Blues" (Bossa)	Kim Young-min Lee Jae-jin	Kim Young-min	Young Tak	3:21
Total length:					6:45

Part 2

Released on February 7, 2020 (2020-02-07)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Is It Okay" (괜찮을까)	Namgoong Jin-young Jung So-ri Lee Jae-jin	Jung So-ri Namgoong Jin-young	Namgoong Jin-young	3:06
2.	"Is It Okay" (Bossa)	Namgoong Jin-young Jung So-ri Lee Jae-jin	Jung So-ri Namgoong Jin-young	Namgoong Jin-young	4:35
Total length:					7:41

Part 3

Released on February 10, 2020 (2020-02-10)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"As The Wind Blows" (바람이 부는 대로)	Xeuda	Xeuda	Xeuda	3:15
2.	"We Are Still" (여전히 우리는)	Kim Ho-jung	Kim Ho-jung Kim Young-min	Ahn Hye-jin	3:54
Total length:					7:09

Viewership

Season		Episode number																Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1	1186	992	953	895	740	743	698	772	730	851	643	807	620	810	711	874	814

Diary of a Prosecutor : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Media Research.^[16]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (AGB Nielsen)[16]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	December 16, 2019	5.042%	5.029%
2	December 17, 2019	4.996%	5.089%
3	December 23, 2019	4.685%	4.951%
4	December 24, 2019	4.238%	4.798%
5	January 6, 2020	3.588%	3.681%
6	January 7, 2020	3.810%	3.921%
7	January 13, 2020	3.203%	3.328%
8	January 14, 2020	3.836%	3.865%
9	January 20, 2020	3.214%	3.334%
10	January 21, 2020	3.684%	3.286%
11	January 27, 2020	2.73%[17]	3.134%
12	January 28, 2020	3.479%	3.778%
13	February 3, 2020	2.981%	3.314%
14	February 4, 2020	4.004%	4.135%
15	February 10, 2020	3.289%	3.366%
16	February 11, 2020	4.208%	4.492%
Average		3.812%	3.969%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).