As part of the so-called "prosecution reform" pushed by the Lee Jae-myung administration, the existing Prosecution Service will be abolished on Oct. 2 and a Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crime Investigation Office (SCIO) will be newly established, and a direction has emerged on how to run the two bodies. Prosecutors at the Public Prosecution Office will not be able to open investigations. It has not yet been decided whether they can conduct supplementary investigations on cases transferred to them.
The prosecution reform task force under the Prime Minister's Office said at a press briefing on the afternoon of the 12th at the annex in Changseong-dong of Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District, Seoul, that it has drawn up a Public Prosecution Office bill and a Serious Crime Investigation Office bill to set matters necessary for operating the two bodies.
Under the two bills, first-instance investigations of serious crimes such as corruption and economic crimes will be handled by the SCIO, while the Public Prosecution Office will basically take charge of filing and maintaining indictments.
The Public Prosecution Office will be established under the Ministry of Justice, and the SCIO under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will pre-announce the legislation for the two bills from today through the 26th.
◇ An incident review panel to be set up at each high public prosecution office to review warrants and indictments in major cases
The Public Prosecution Office bill reorganized prosecutors' duties under the principle of separating investigation and indictment. The current Prosecutors' Office Act states that prosecutors' duties are "criminal investigation and matters necessary for filing and maintaining indictments," and presents the scope of crimes for which investigations can be initiated. In the Public Prosecution Office bill, "criminal investigation" and "opening investigations" are deleted from prosecutors' duties and explicitly replaced with "filing and maintaining indictments."
The prosecution reform task force said, "We made it clear that the organization is being restructured as a body dedicated to prosecutions," adding, "Going forward, prosecutors will be unable to open investigations, which will prevent abuses of investigative authority."
Whether prosecutors at the Public Prosecution Office will have the authority to conduct supplementary investigations is still undecided. The task force noted, "Prosecutors' direct, ex officio investigations are structurally blocked," and added, "As for supplementary investigations on cases transferred to them, we plan to review the matter during the amendment process for the Criminal Procedure Act."
In principle, on Oct. 2, the enforcement date of the law, cases that the existing Prosecution Service had been investigating will be transferred to investigative agencies such as the police, the SCIO, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
Internal and external controls over prosecutors' duties will be strengthened. Each high public prosecution office will set up an incident review committee to review requests for arrest warrants in high-profile cases and whether to indict. The body is intended to control prosecutors' authority to seek warrants and indict. There are six high prosecutors' offices that will be converted into high public prosecution offices: Seoul, Suwon, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju.
Controls over individual prosecutors will also be strengthened. The Public Prosecution Office bill newly establishes a provision penalizing prosecutors' political involvement. It also specifies that the grant rates and reasons for appeals and re-appeals and for applications for court-controlled indictment, and the acquittal rate and its reasons, must be reasonably reflected in performance evaluations.
In the prosecutor suitability review process, the number of outside members will be increased. Among the members of the suitability review committee, the number of prosecutors appointed by the Minister of Justice will be reduced from four to two, and the number of commissioners appointed by the Minister of Justice will be reduced from two to one.
◇ MOIS minister may direct only the SCIO chief in specific cases
With the Prosecution Service set to be abolished, concerns have been raised that the criminal investigative capacity built up over time will be weakened. The task force explained, "The SCIO bill focuses on preventing any leakage or gaps in the nation's overall investigative response capability to serious crimes."
The SCIO's investigative targets are defined as the "nine major serious crimes": corruption, economic crimes, public officials' crimes, election crimes, defense procurement crimes, large-scale disasters, narcotics, crimes protecting the state such as insurrection and external treason, and cybercrimes. Once the SCIO Act is enacted, the government plans to specify, by presidential decree, the offense titles for serious crimes such as high-value economic crimes, technology leaks, international drug smuggling and large-scale hacking crimes.
In addition, the SCIO may investigate crimes committed by public officials affiliated with the Public Prosecution Office or other investigative agencies, as well as cases reported to the SCIO under individual statutes.
The SCIO will have investigation judicial officers and professional investigators. To draw in existing prosecutors to the SCIO, investigation judicial officers are expected to be drawn from legal professionals, and professional investigators from non-legal backgrounds. However, the SCIO plans to allow professional investigators to switch to investigation judicial officers and to be appointed to senior posts without restriction.
Regarding personnel composition, the task force said, "The SCIO is designed as an 'open system' to include not only prosecutors but also police and experts in other fields," adding, "We ensured that investigative capacity is secured."
Because the SCIO's investigative scope is broad, conflicts of jurisdiction may arise with other investigative bodies such as the police National Office of Investigation (NOI). In such cases, the SCIO is authorized to request that another investigative body take over a case, or to transfer the case itself.
A provision similar to the justice minister's power to direct and supervise the prosecution under the current Prosecutors' Office Act has been included in the SCIO bill. The Minister of the Interior and Safety may generally direct and supervise SCIO affairs, and for specific cases may direct only the SCIO commissioner. The SCIO will also have an investigation review committee with citizen participation.
◇ Yoon Ho-jung: "So the SCIO can take root as a fair investigative body under democratic control"
Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho said, "While implementing the principle of 'separating investigation and indictment' so that the institution that starts an investigation cannot end it, we also maintained crime-response capacity," adding, "The Ministry of Justice will operate the Public Prosecution Office so the public can feel the changes."
Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung said, "This bill focuses on ensuring that investigations and indictments proceed with mutual checks and balances, thereby restoring public trust in the overall criminal justice system," adding, "We will ensure the SCIO takes root as a fair and professional investigative body under democratic control."
Task force head Yoon Chang-ryeol (Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination) said, "We will proceed without a hitch to prepare amendments to laws governing the investigation–indictment relationship, including the Criminal Procedure Act, and submit them to the National Assembly."