The Democratic Party of Korea is beginning supplementary work on amending the Criminal Procedure Act to ban prosecutors' direct investigations. It plans to push to amend the law so that all cases of the seven major crimes targeting socially vulnerable people are sent in full.
Seo Young-kyo, a Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said at a press briefing at the National Assembly on the 2nd regarding sending all cases of the seven major crimes, "The regular session begins in September," and added, "We expect to make legislative improvements before the National Assembly inspection in October."
The seven major crimes against the socially vulnerable cited by the Democratic Party are: ▲ child abuse ▲ domestic violence ▲ sex crimes ▲ child sex crimes ▲ stalking ▲ abuse of persons with disabilities ▲ elder abuse. Sending all cases means a system in which the primary investigative body forwards every case it has investigated to a prosecutor for review.
The Democratic Party decided to allow sending all cases only for the seven major crimes in response to concerns that victims' rights could be infringed if prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority is abolished. This is expected to be pursued through amendments to individual laws rather than the Criminal Procedure Act.
Kim Seung-won, the ruling party secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and a Democratic Party lawmaker, said, "The related bills have reached the introduction stage. I don't think it will take that long," and added, "There will be no problem implementing the laws on Oct. 2, when the Public Prosecution Service and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency are launched."