Rising appeals of police probes and the changing investigation landscape

The number of criminal cases in which victims or suspects have challenged the police handling of investigations by requesting an official review has surged sharply, underscoring growing public distrust in investigations. According to data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency to the office of Rep. Suh Bum-soo of the People Power Party, the number of requests for investigative review rose from 2,443 cases in 2022 to 6,223 last year. By March of this year alone, the figure had already reached 1,715, putting it on track to easily surpass 7,000 by year’s end. The number of cases in which review committees recommended supplementary or reinvestigation due to inadequate police work also jumped dramatically, from 159 cases, or 6.5 percent, in 2022 to 711 cases, or 11.4 percent, in 2025. The investigative review request system was first introduced in April 2021 following the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecutors and police.

Under the earlier Moon Jae-in administration, the redistribution of investigative powers greatly expanded police authority, granting police the power to close investigations independently. Of the roughly 1.5 million cases handled annually by police, about 900,000 are forwarded to prosecutors, while the remaining 600,000 are concluded solely at the police level. Yet the number of complainants, suspects and other involved parties challenging those decisions through investigative review requests continues to rise. While the increase partly reflects growing public awareness of legal rights, it also serves as evidence of deepening skepticism toward case handling.

Recent incidents have only reinforced such concerns. Police shortcomings were exposed in the botched response to a stalking murder case in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, and in the inadequate investigation into a film director’s fatal assault case. At Seoul’s Gangnam Police Station, allegations of entertainment-related bribery and improper requests to cover up investigations triggered an unprecedented reshuffle in which five division chiefs were simultaneously replaced.

Despite these realities, hard-line lawmakers in the ruling party are pressing to abolish prosecutors’ authority to order supplementary investigations — one of the few remaining mechanisms for checking and correcting police investigations — ahead of the planned launch of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the prosecution in October. Given that prosecutors’ authority to direct police investigations has already been abolished, reducing unjust harm to the public requires that all police-investigated cases be forwarded to prosecutors for legal review and, when necessary, supplementary investigation. If the goal is to uphold criminal justice while protecting fundamental rights, revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act should proceed in precisely that direction.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.