The Presidential Committee on Policy Planning's "implementation plan for state tasks," prepared under President Lee Jae-myung, was found to include content stating that a high level of prosecutorial judicial control over "special judicial police officers" should be maintained.
In contrast, the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to amend the Public Prosecution Office Act to minimize prosecutorial intervention in investigations by police and other administrative agencies, prompting criticism that the government's stance has effectively been reversed under pressure from hard-liners within the party.
According to ChosunBiz reporting on the 19th, the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, which performed the role of the presidential transition committee from June to August last year, drew up detailed implementation plans for state tasks. The document is understood to include content to the effect that "given the substantive differences between general judicial police and special judicial police, it is necessary to maintain stronger judicial control."
The detailed plan for state tasks is a 1,800-page compendium that includes the government's five-year state governance plan and 564 detailed plans, and it was not released to the public.
The plan included a measure to maintain the current system under which all cases handled by special judicial police are "fully transferred" to the prosecution. It also included language to the effect that, in cases of non-transfer or suspended investigation, the system under which prosecutors demand reinvestigation or corrective measures would be made substantive in line with the supplementary investigation request system.
These points were also to be reflected in the Ministry of Justice ordinance titled "Prosecutors' investigative command over the management of special judicial police and investigative rules for the management of special judicial police," among others.
However, the original plan was reportedly to partially guarantee the independence of investigations by special judicial police while changing prosecutors' authority to direct investigations into a power of review or oversight.
Special judicial police are public officials who perform judicial police duties in specific administrative fields such as food, environment, and tariff. They are designated by chief prosecutors, and about 20,000 operate nationwide. They are not separately hired investigative specialists and, in principle, are subject to prosecutors' direction when conducting criminal investigations or assisting with them.
However, the final draft of the Public Prosecution Office Act disclosed by the Democratic Party on the 17th shows that the "authority to direct and supervise special judicial police" was removed from among the duties performed by prosecutors of the Public Prosecution Office. The government draft of the Public Prosecution Office Act was said to have included that provision. Observers say this reflects hard-liners' calls to block prosecutorial intervention in investigations.
Recent remarks by President Lee Jae-myung also support this trend. On the 17th, Lee wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "If the plan prepared through consultations between the party and the government needs to be revised within the scope necessary to exclude prosecutorial investigations, it can be revised 10 times through consultation," adding, "I also instructed the government to delete provisions on directing special judicial police and any provisions that allow for prosecutorial involvement in the course of investigations."
Still, the legal community is concerned about potential investigative gaps resulting from the removal of command authority. As of 2024, of the 72,835 cases transferred by special judicial police to the prosecution, only about 45% led to indictment, and special judicial police with less than one year of experience accounted for 48% of the total.
The Democratic Party plans to introduce and pass at the National Assembly's plenary session this afternoon the bills to establish the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (SCIA), which will be launched after the Prosecution Service is abolished in Oct. The People Power Party has announced a filibuster (a lawful obstruction of proceedings through unlimited debate), saying "the public will be harmed."