Prosecutors rejected 140 police emergency arrests in the first half of this year alone, nearly the same as the total number of rejections for all of last year. The Democratic Party of Korea initially sought to revise the Criminal Procedure Act to change prosecutors' "approval" of police emergency arrests to an after-the-fact "notification," but withdrew the plan amid opposition from opposition parties and the legal community.
◇ Rejection rate hit 3.31% in the first half, the highest in five years
According to data from the police Criminal Justice Information System (KICS) obtained by ChosunBiz through an information disclosure request on Aug. 5, from 2022 through June this year the police requested prosecutors' approval for emergency arrests in a total of 30,087 cases. Of these, prosecutors rejected 634 cases, or 2.11% of the total. That means roughly one out of every 50 cases was deemed an improper emergency arrest. All suspects in rejected cases were released immediately.
By year, the number and rate of rejections were ▲ 2022: 116 cases (2.22%) ▲ 2023: 117 cases (1.78%) ▲ 2024: 120 cases (1.76%) ▲ 2025: 141 cases (1.94%) ▲ Jan.–Jun. 2026: 140 cases (3.31%). This year, 140 cases were rejected in just the first half, nearly matching last year's full-year figure. The rejection rate was also the highest in the past five years.
Article 200-3 of the current Criminal Procedure Act requires the police to obtain immediate approval from a prosecutor when they conduct an emergency arrest of a suspect without a warrant. Under the "Regulations on mutual cooperation between prosecutors and judicial police officers and general investigation rules," the police must obtain a prosecutor's approval within 12 hours after an emergency arrest.
If prosecutors determine that the criminal suspicion is not sufficiently substantiated or that there is no need for an emergency arrest, they may refuse approval. In that case, the police must release the suspect immediately. The prosecutor's approval process serves as a mechanism for ex post control over police detention without a warrant.
◇ Democratic Party pushed "after-the-fact notification" instead of prosecutor approval, then withdrew it
However, the draft amendment prepared by the Democratic Party Criminal Procedure Act revision task force (TF) included a provision requiring the police to provide after-the-fact notification of the arrest instead of obtaining a prosecutor's approval after an emergency arrest. It would have eliminated the procedure by which prosecutors review the legality and necessity of emergency arrests and can release suspects.
In response, opposition parties and the legal community criticized that the police could secure a suspect's custody for the 48-hour deadline to request a detention warrant without any separate oversight.
Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said on Facebook, "While the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to ban supplementary investigations, it even made it so the police would not need to obtain a prosecutor's approval after an emergency arrest," adding, "They hid a bomb called 'unlimited allowance of police emergency arrests without warrants.'"
An Mi-hyeon, deputy chief prosecutor at the Cheonan District Prosecutors' Office branch, also said, "It grants judicial police officers the power to detain without a warrant for 47 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds without any control." An said, "If an investigation continues while missing the fact that the conditions for an emergency arrest were not met, all evidence obtained in the process could become useless."
◇ Summoned a suspect who volunteered to appear and arrested them… paperwork says "discovered by chance"
In practice, prosecutors have uncovered cases where the police failed to meet the requirements for an emergency arrest or falsified related documents.
According to prosecutors, the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul in May summoned a suspect who had expressed an intent to appear voluntarily to a nearby subway station and then conducted an emergency arrest. The police then prepared paperwork as if they had encountered and arrested the suspect by chance on the street.
Prosecutors who took over the case confirmed these facts through a suspect interview and police station visitation records and released the suspect immediately. The police officer involved in the illegal arrest was indicted on charges including abuse of authority and unlawful arrest.
In the end, the Criminal Procedure Act amendment that passed the National Assembly on the 31st of last month did not include the change to after-the-fact notification in place of prosecutor approval. The current system requiring immediate prosecutor approval after an emergency arrest by the police was maintained.
A legal community source said, "Since prosecutors actually reject more than 100 emergency arrests every year, the approval process is the minimum safeguard to control police detention," adding, "While prosecutors' direct investigative authority was abolished, it is fortunate that their authority to approve emergency arrests was preserved."