The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has drafted new investigation guidelines and will gather feedback from special judicial police officers. The complete abolition of prosecutors' investigative and command authority is scheduled for Oct.
On the 23rd, according to legal sources, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office sent a draft of the investigation guidelines to major special judicial police nationwide on the 21st and asked for comments by the 24th. These guidelines define the relationship between prosecutors and special judicial police.
Special judicial police are public officials in each administrative agency, such as labor offices, customs, the National Tax Service, and the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety, who crack down on and investigate crimes in their fields. As of 2024, 20,000 are active nationwide.
There has been criticism that, given the nature of their duties, which do not involve conducting investigations professionally, special judicial police often lack investigative experience and legal knowledge. Accordingly, prosecutors have directed special judicial police and supplemented unlawful or inadequate investigations.
However, under the amended Criminal Procedure Act, the relationship between prosecutors and special judicial police shifts to a "mutual cooperation" relationship, and prosecutors may only provide guidance and advice at the stages of initiating and conducting investigations.
Accordingly, all matters related to existing prosecutorial investigative command have also been changed to "guidance and advice."
The draft the Supreme Prosecutors' Office sent to special judicial police this time contains a provision that special judicial police must comply with prosecutors' guidance and advice.
However, when special judicial police do not comply with prosecutors' guidance and advice, there is no prescribed method to enforce compliance. This is why there are concerns that the guidelines will lack effectiveness.
Some say the guidelines will struggle to prevent side effects arising from the absence of prosecutors' investigative command authority, such as inadequate investigations or the hiding (concealment) of cases.
The draft also includes a provision that the prosecution will analyze and evaluate how special judicial police are operated.
In the legal community, as concerns grew over a vacuum in judicial oversight of special judicial police due to the abolition of prosecutors' investigative command authority, arguments were raised that at least minimal mechanisms are needed, such as requests for removal from duty and reflecting outcomes in personnel evaluations.
Under the amended Criminal Procedure Act, special judicial police, like the police, will be subject to prosecutors' requests for supplementary investigations and corrective measures. The draft investigation guidelines are said to reflect this.