Prosecution, police fail to agree on probe rights

By Na Jeong-ju

The prosecution and police have failed to narrow their differences over readjusting investigation rights, officials said Sunday, suggesting that the government may intervene to address the longstanding conflict between the two law-enforcement bodies.

The two sides held a four-day meeting that ended Saturday to reach a compromise on the matter, but failed to do so, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, without elaborating.

Last month, the PMO received proposals from the prosecution and the police to update a presidential decree on criminal investigations and lawsuits by the end of December, based on a revision of the Criminal Litigation Law, which was endorsed by the National Assembly in late June.

Under the revised law, the government should clarify the scope of the prosecution’s oversight of police investigations in the presidential decree.

Police have called for measures to have them and the prosecution share investigation rights and ensure independent probes by the fomer.

On the other hand, the prosecution has demanded the government reduce the scope of independent probes by police and strengthen the supervision of officers by prosecutors.

“At last week’s gathering, the two sides repeated their original demands,” a PMO official said. “We will continue to seek compromise between them to complete the revision of the presidential decree as early as possible.”

He didn’t rule out the possibility that the feud between the prosecution and police could escalate further, saying, if so, the government will step in to conclude the case.

Currently, police can open and proceed with investigations without instructions from prosecutors in limited cases. They can gather intelligence, trace bank accounts, question suspects as well as conduct raids to collect evidence before asking for court warrants to carry out arrests.

However, the prosecution demands the scope of police investigations be reduced.

The police prefer a Japanese-style law enforcement system where the prosecution and police share investigation rights.

The National Police Agency earlier said police in Japan can open independent probes without the prosecution’s intervention, if they have to. Besides Japan, many other countries are giving stronger investigation rights to the police, so Korea should follow such a trend, it said.