Gov't fully backs abolishment of prosecutors' investigation powers, leaves details to parliament

The government reached a consensus on its support for abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation powers under proposed revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act on Thursday, but will leave the matter to the National Assembly.

"I have consistently maintained that prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers should be abolished," Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said during a briefing at the government complex in central Seoul. "After considering the various opinions discussed within the government, we have settled on the government's basic position to abolish the supplementary investigation powers."

Kim said the government will not submit a separate legislative proposal in advance, but will provide any necessary materials if requested by the National Assembly.

"The detailed institutional design and legislation should be decided through sufficient discussion and deliberation by the National Assembly as the people's representative body," Kim said.

Following the decision, it is likely that prosecutors would lose the authority under current Korean law to conduct investigations after cases have been referred by the police, who conduct their own investigation. Instead, they would retain only the authority to request that investigative agencies carry out supplementary probes.

Kim had instructed the prosecutorial reform task force under the Prime Minister's Office to discuss granting prosecutors the authority to request supplementary investigations on the premise that their authority to conduct probes would be abolished. The task force previously discussed the possibility of retaining the powers for limited exceptions.

"There is considerable public opinion that it would be better to cut it off completely for now because prosecutors have done so many things that the people could not trust," Kim said, speaking to reporters on Sunday.

"Even if the National Assembly ultimately decides to abolish it, that would be acceptable. President Lee Jae Myung also said that would be okay, regardless of his own view."

President Lee also addressed the controversy during a briefing on June 19, following his trip to Europe.

"We decided to leave the matter to the National Assembly because it could become the subject of political debate or political attacks," Lee said.

A government official said the reform task force had "frequently consulted with the ruling party during internal discussions" to avoid repeating what the official described as "unnecessary conflicts that happened when drafting legislation establishing the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office in the past."

"For Prime Minister Kim, who wants to shift the government's focus from reform issues to a broader vision for the future, it would be beneficial to prevent rivals in the Democratic Party's [DP] leadership race from turning prosecutorial reform into a political issue," said an official from the ruling party.

"President Lee also does not want internal disputes over prosecutorial reform to distract from governing," the official added.

However, it remains unclear whether the issue will subside as Kim hopes.

Former DP leader Jung Chung-rae and political commentator and YouTuber Kim Eo-jun have recently criticized the pace of the government's deliberations.

"Completely abolish supplementary investigation powers! There is no reason to delay. Do it right now," Jung wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

Lee Sung-yoon, a DP supreme council member and considered an ally of Jung, also criticized the government during a party meeting on Wednesday.

"The government said it would discuss revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act, but now there are only 100 days left before the launch of the Public Prosecution Office and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office," Lee said. "Even if a decision is made now, it is already far too late."

DP Rep. Kim Yong-min also urged the government during a radio interview the same day to immediately submit its proposal to the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Kim rejected the criticism during Thursday's briefing.

"I concluded that it would be better to move up the second-stage reform bill and process it as quickly as possible while monitoring the implementation of the first reform package, so I planned to handle it in May," Kim said. "I proposed that to the party, but it was postponed at the party's request."

He added, "After organizing the various views within the government, we determined that it would be more efficient and appropriate not to submit a separate government bill in order to allow the National Assembly to engage in free discussion."

Shortly after Kim's briefing, Jung welcomed the announcement on Facebook.

"The National Assembly will completely and irreversibly abolish the powers, so please prepare the enforcement decree to ensure complete abolition as well," Jung wrote.

Meanwhile, legal experts continue to express concerns about possible gaps in the criminal justice system.

Critics argue that prosecutors, who retain the constitutional authority to request warrants, would be unable to arrest or take custody of suspects transferred after arrest if they no longer possess investigative authority. They also warn that relying solely on investigation records when deciding whether to indict could effectively render practices such as deferred prosecution and summary indictments obsolete, leading to more arbitrary decisions to prosecute or not.

Some legal experts also argue that giving prosecutors the legally protected authority to request supplementary investigations would differ little from the investigative command authority that has already been abolished. They further contend that even if prosecutors retain only limited authority to conduct supplementary fact-finding, such procedures would be administrative rather than investigative, making it difficult for evidence obtained to be admissible in court while raising concerns that suspects' right to remain silent or to have counsel present could be denied.

"The content and timing of these legal revisions are being dictated by political schedules," said Lee Geun-woo, a law professor at Gachon University who previously chaired the task force's advisory committee. "Even the government is acting as if this is someone else's problem by saying any issues can be fixed later. It's extremely irresponsible to treat a country's criminal justice system as an experiment."

A senior prosecutor who requested anonymity told the JoongAng Ilbo that "the government was determined to reach this conclusion from the beginning."

A chief prosecutor at a district prosecutors' office in Seoul added concern that "Countless criminals will now be able to evade justice."

BY HA JUN-HO, JEONG JIN-HO [[email protected]]