This article was published on the ChosunBiz RM Report site at 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2026.
With the abolition of the Prosecution Service and the launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (Jungsucheong) on Oct. 2, questions are being raised that a legal gap may emerge over whether beommusa can draft complaints and accusations to submit to the new agency.
That is because the amendment to the Beommusa Act, introduced in tandem with the abolition of the Prosecution Service, specifies only the Public Prosecution Office as an agency for beommusa work and leaves out the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
◇The Beommusa Act changed only "Prosecution Service → Public Prosecution Office"… the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency is left out
According to legal sources on the 14th, the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is holding an amendment to the Beommusa Act proposed by Rep. Kim Dong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea. The bill is being discussed together with six others, including amendments to the Prosecutors' Disciplinary Act and the Criminal Act.
Under the current Beommusa Act, beommusa may draft documents submitted to courts and the Prosecution Service and documents related to the work of those bodies. While they cannot represent parties at trial like attorneys, they may draft and submit complaints, accusations, answers, briefs, and the like.
The issue arises after the Prosecution Service disappears. The amendment under discussion in the National Assembly replaces the existing "Prosecution Service" with the "Public Prosecution Office," defining the beommusa scope as "documents submitted to courts and the Public Prosecution Office" and "documents related to the work of courts and the Public Prosecution Office." The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which will take over investigative functions from the prosecution, is not specified as a target agency.
Even under the current Beommusa Act, the Korean National Police Agency is not expressly designated as a body to which beommusa may submit documents. However, the Supreme Court has taken the view that criminal complaints filed with the police ultimately constitute documents related to criminal procedures of courts and the Prosecution Service. Accordingly, beommusa have also drafted complaints and accusations submitted to the police.
◇Allowed for the Korean National Police Agency by precedent… a legal dispute possible for the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency
However, observers say the situation is different for the newly launched Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. There could be interpretive disputes over whether complaints or accusations submitted to the agency can be deemed "documents related to the work of the Public Prosecution Office."
In particular, because the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency is designed as a separate body taking over the direct investigative functions of the Prosecution Service, it is hard to conclude that existing police-related precedents apply as-is. If legal grounds remain unclear, disputes may arise over the scope of work when beommusa draft and submit documents related to cases at the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
There is also criticism that this issue was not sufficiently reviewed during the National Assembly's deliberations. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee's expert review report reportedly did not separately mention the legal vacuum resulting from leaving the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency out of the beommusa's target agencies.
The Korea Association of Beommusa Lawyer holds that during the amendment process in September, the agencies to which beommusa may draft and submit documents should explicitly include not only the Public Prosecution Office but also the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency and the Korean National Police Agency.
An official at the Beommusa Association said, "Because the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will inherit the Prosecution Service's investigative functions, the Beommusa Act should clearly reflect this," adding, "During the reorganization, the public must not face limits on the legal services they have used."
The official added, "People for whom hiring an attorney is burdensome have received help from beommusa in drafting complaints and accusations at relatively low expense," and "Considering access to justice for ordinary citizens, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency should clearly be included among the target agencies for beommusa."