Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Ruling party railroads legislation to rid prosecutors of all investigative powers
Lawmakers sit in the main chamber of the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday, as a bill to strip prosecutors of their remaining investigative powers is passed.
By Jung Min-ho
Critics warn police-led investigations could go unchecked amid growing worries
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) pushed through a controversial bill on Friday to strip prosecutors of all remaining investigative powers, forcing a vote shortly after cutting off a filibuster by the opposition People Power Party (PPP).
This legislation marks a decisive shift in the country’s criminal justice system, as prosecutors lose formal authority to investigate crimes while police and a new government agency will take over all frontline investigative powers, with prosecutors confined mostly to indictment tasks.
The vote came minutes after the DPK used its three-fifths majority to terminate a filibuster launched by the PPP the previous afternoon, which had run for 24 hours. PPP legislators had taken turns giving marathon speeches warning of police corruption and investigative blind spots, before it all ended abruptly.
The proposal was passed by an overwhelming margin, with 175 votes in favor, two against and one abstention out of 178 lawmakers present. PPP lawmakers boycotted the vote.
President Lee Jae Myung, currently on an official trip in South America, will have 15 days from the bill’s transmission to his office to either veto it or sign it into law.
Under the revised law, prosecutors would no longer be recognized as an investigative authority in statute. Instead of holding any power to conduct supplementary investigations themselves, they would only have the right to ask police officers to do so. Investigators must, in principle, carry it out within one month, which can be extended by another month.
The bill also imposes a new management responsibility on prosecutors, requiring them to keep the case number active in the Criminal Justice Information System and check whether police actually comply with their supplementary investigation requests.
Prosecutors’ constitutionally guaranteed power to request warrants and oversee execution of court orders remains, but their primary role will be limited to deciding whether to indict suspects and maintaining prosecutions before the courts.
DPK leaders say the legislation was necessary for its prosecution reform agenda to fully separate investigation from indictment. They argue that swift passage was required, with the launch of new state agencies dedicated separately to investigation and indictment tasks scheduled for Oct. 2, when the existing Prosecutors’ Office is set to be formally abolished.
“Today’s Criminal Procedure Act revision is the beginning of a new criminal justice system, not the end of prosecution reform,” Rep. Han Byung-do, acting leader of the party, said at a Supreme Council meeting held earlier that day. “It marks a historic turning point, ending the concentration of power in which prosecutors both investigated and indicted, and instead separating investigation from indictment so that prosecutorial power is placed under the control of the Constitution and the people.”
Critics say once prosecutors are removed from the investigative chain, cases mishandled or dragged out by the police will have no realistic way to be fixed. They warn the prosecution’s “request” powers are meaningless if police simply ignore them in practice, since prosecutors cannot themselves step in to redo flawed investigations.
Concerns have also been raised by scholars. In a joint statement released by 62 criminal legal scholars nationwide, they said prosecutors’ supplementary investigation request powers alone “cannot effectively control police investigations.”
They also warned that rushing through changes to the law “without sufficient deliberation” on a criminal system that affects every person is deeply troubling and that some level of prosecutorial supplementary investigation authority should remain as a safeguard against investigative failures by the police.