The government held a forum on whether to grant supplementary investigation authority to prosecutors of the Public Prosecution Office to be established after the abolition of the Prosecution Service in Oct. Supporters of giving prosecutors supplementary investigation authority said, "If there had been no direct supplementary investigation by prosecutors in the 'Busan roundhouse kick case' and the 'valley murder case,' the full picture of the crimes would not have been sufficiently revealed." Opponents argued, "If you want to investigate, you should become an investigator (not a prosecutor)."
The Prosecution Reform Promotion Team under the prime minister held the "Forum on supplementary investigations and requests for supplementary investigations from the public's perspective" on the afternoon of the 16th at the Gwanghwamun Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Following the establishment of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the Public Prosecution Office, the government is pushing the second phase of "prosecution reform" by overhauling the criminal justice system. This forum was the second venue to hear opinions from various sectors of society. Last week, it held a public hearing jointly with the Korean Bar Association.
Kim Sang-hyun, an associate professor at the Korea University School of Law, said, "If prosecutors review only documents (prepared by the police or the Serious Crimes Investigation Office, etc.) without supplementary investigation, it is natural that misjudgments will increase when deciding whether to indict," adding, "Cases disadvantageous to suspects are bound to increase, and human rights violations are inevitable."
Within the ruling bloc, some argue that only the right to request supplementary investigations should be allowed for prosecutors. On this, Professor Kim explained, "Immediately after liberation, the U.S. military government, by directive, set the prosecutor–police relationship by having prosecutors request the National Police Bureau to conduct matters of inquiry," adding, "The police were uncooperative with prosecutors' investigative requests, and as a result, when the U.S. military government enacted the Prosecutors' Office Act, it clearly stipulated that prosecutors are in charge of directing investigations of judicial police."
Attorney Jeon Byung-deok of Law Firm Gangnam, who participated as a panelist, said that after the abolition in 2020, under the Moon Jae-in administration, of prosecutors' authority to direct police investigations and the introduction of supplementary investigation authority, investigation periods that typically took six months are now exceeding one year. Jeon said the police's investigative capabilities have practical limits, adding, "The 'Busan roundhouse kick case' and the 'valley murder case' are examples where, had prosecutors not conducted direct supplementary investigations, the full picture of the crimes might not have been sufficiently clarified."
The presentation arguing that supplementary investigation authority should not be granted to prosecutors of the Public Prosecution Office was delivered by attorney Kang Dong-pil of Law Firm Barun. Kang graduated from the Korea National Police University in 2004 and was commissioned into the police, graduated from the Kyungpook National University School of Law, and passed the bar exam in 2021. After retiring from the police in 2024 as head of the investigation division at the Cheonan Dongnam Police Station, Kang joined Barun.
Kang said, "Supplementary investigation authority amounts to unrestricted direct investigative power, including compulsory measures, and does not align with the role of the Public Prosecution Office," adding, "It becomes a gateway to abuse of investigative power through 'related cases.'" Kang continued, "If you want to investigate, you should become an investigator."
Yoon Dong-ho, a professor at the Korea University College of Law, said, "In addition to the 2,300 prosecutors currently at the Prosecution Service, there are as many as 7,000 investigators," adding, "If most of them remain at the Public Prosecution Office, receive prosecutors' direction, and exercise direct supplementary investigation authority, there will be little difference from the existing Prosecution Service."
Yoon Chang-ryeol, Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and head of the Prosecution Reform Promotion Team, said of the forum, "This is a venue to consider what a reasonable plan is from the perspective of the public, who are consumers of the system, not the government that creates the system."
Yoon added, "President Lee Jae-myung also emphasized that the ultimate goal of prosecution reform is to protect the human rights of the public, provide remedies, and properly punish offenders for the sake of victims of wrongful crimes," and said, "We must create a 'criminal justice system for the public' that properly investigates cases and properly indicts offenders."