What's left before Korea's prosecution reform takes effect
Bill clears Parliament as implementation, legal hurdles remain
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok calls on President Lee Jae Myung to veto the revised Criminal Procedure Act during the party's Supreme Council meeting outside Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
The National Assembly’s passage of a bill stripping prosecutors of their power to conduct supplementary investigations has shifted attention to the remaining steps before the overhaul takes effect, including presidential promulgation, follow-up legislation and possible proceedings before the Constitutional Court.
Conservative opposition parties, mainly the People Power Party (PPP) and the minor Reform Party, have called on President Lee Jae Myung to exercise his veto. It remains unclear whether Lee will do so, though the bill is a key part of the ruling party’s prosecution reform agenda.
Once the bill is sent to the government, Lee has 15 days to either promulgate it or return it to the Assembly for reconsideration. A bill also becomes law if the president neither promulgates it nor requests reconsideration by the deadline.
The revised Criminal Procedure Act is scheduled to take effect Oct. 2, when the new prosecution office and the new serious crimes investigation agency are set to begin operations.
What changes under revised law
Under the revised law, prosecutors will no longer be allowed to conduct supplementary investigations themselves. Investigations will instead be handled by the police and other investigative bodies, including the new serious crimes agency, while prosecutors will concentrate on deciding whether to bring charges and maintaining cases in court.
Prosecutors will retain the authority to request supplementary investigations when they believe a case sent by the police requires further work. They may also request a new investigation into cases the police have decided not to refer for prosecution and demand corrective action when an investigation is considered unlawful or improper.
“The key is not to eliminate authority, but to distribute it and establish mutual checks,” DPK policy chief Han Jeoung-ae said Monday at a public briefing on the revisions.
Rep. Seo Young-kyo, second from left, chair of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, speaks during a DPK public briefing on revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act at the Assembly in Seoul, Monday. From left are Reps. Kim Seung-won, Seo, Han Byung-do and Han Jeoung-ae. Yonhap
Rep. Kim Seung-won, the DPK’s ranking member on the Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said the revisions remove prosecutors’ authority to conduct supplementary investigations themselves but preserve their authority to request them.
“The revision abolishes prosecutors’ authority to conduct supplementary investigations directly, but not their authority to request them,” Kim said.
Kim said prosecutors must specify what additional investigative steps are needed when making such requests. Police will generally have up to one month to complete supplementary investigations, with a one-month extension allowed if necessary.
Records from cases closed by police without referral will still be sent to prosecutors, who will have three months to decide whether to order a reinvestigation. Prosecutors may also seek corrective action or ask another investigative agency to take over a case if a supplementary or renewed investigation is not carried out properly.
The legislation also includes measures intended to strengthen victims’ rights.
Victims and complainants will be allowed to request meetings with prosecutors, submit opinions and supporting materials, gain broader access to investigation records and raise objections to investigations that have been delayed for more than six months or conducted improperly.
What's left to implement
Additional legislation will be needed before the new system is fully implemented. The DPK plans to expand mandatory referral to prosecutors to seven categories of crimes involving socially vulnerable victims by revising separate laws.
Rep. Kim Han-kyu, the party’s chief policy deputy, said a task force on victims’ rights will be launched to oversee the next phase of the reforms.
“The task force will review follow-up legislation, the establishment of a dedicated unit within the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the subordinate regulations needed to implement the new system,” Kim said.
Possible constitutional challenge
Even if the bill is promulgated, it could still face a constitutional challenge.
The PPP has said it is considering a competence dispute, a constitutional complaint and other legal avenues, arguing that the revisions infringe on prosecutors’ constitutional authority to request warrants. It has not decided who would file such a challenge or which legal procedure it would pursue.
In March 2023, the Constitutional Court dismissed a challenge to an earlier prosecution reform law by a vote of 5 to 4.
The majority ruled that prosecutors’ investigative authority does not stem from the constitutional provision granting prosecutors the power to request warrants, and that the allocation of investigative and prosecutorial powers is the National Assembly's responsibility.
The 2023 case dealt with legislation that narrowed the scope of crimes that prosecutors could investigate directly. The latest revisions eliminate prosecutors’ authority to conduct supplementary investigations themselves and require a police request before prosecutors can seek a warrant from a court.