Ministry of Justice Policy Committee Reviews Introduction of Criminal Public Defender System... Alert to Impact on Legal Profession

Kang Sung-guk, Vice Minister of Justice, attending the 7th video conference of the 16th Ministry of Justice Policy Committee held on the 19th. / Ministry of Justice

[Asia Economy Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter] Ahead of the introduction of the 'Criminal Public Defender System,' which expands the public defender system to cover all criminal suspects, the Ministry of Justice held a Policy Committee meeting (Chairman Kim Seon-wook) to hear the opinions of the committee members.

The Ministry of Justice has already announced legislative proposals for partial amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Legal Aid Act, which include the Criminal Public Defender System. Meanwhile, the legal community is closely monitoring the potential impact on the criminal defense attorney market.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Justice announced that it held the Policy Committee meeting in a non-face-to-face video conference format the previous day to listen to in-depth opinions from the committee members regarding the introduction of the 'Criminal Public Defender System.'

The Ministry of Justice Policy Committee is an advisory body to the Minister of Justice on the operation of legal administration, consisting of 12 to 19 members including the chairman. Since the first Policy Committee was launched in May 2003, 16 terms have been formed and operated to date.

The current 16th Policy Committee is chaired by Kim Seon-wook, Honorary Professor at Ewha Womans University Law School and former Minister of Government Legislation and President of Ewha Womans University, with Kang Sung-guk, Vice Minister of Justice, serving as vice chairman.

Additionally, two internal members, including Joo Young-hwan, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Justice, and Ye Se-min, Director of Planning at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, along with 13 external members such as university professors, lawyers, journalists, religious figures, and representatives of civic groups, are serving as committee members.

The Ministry of Justice stated that during this meeting, the committee members actively agreed with the purpose and necessity of introducing the 'Criminal Public Defender System' and urged for its swift implementation.

It is reported that most committee members agreed with the system's purpose of "strengthening human rights protection during investigative procedures by enabling socially and economically disadvantaged individuals to receive assistance from public defenders from the early stages of investigation."

However, regarding opposition from the Korean Bar Association and others concerning the operating entity, the Ministry of Justice conveyed that the committee requested thorough discussions and consultations to prepare an effective system that further guarantees the human rights of the public.

There were also opinions that measures should be established to ensure public trust that the Criminal Public Defender System can operate independently and fairly from the Ministry of Justice or investigative agencies.

The Ministry of Justice said, "We will carefully review the contents discussed at this Policy Committee meeting, along with the feedback collected during the legislative notice period, and do our best to prevent human rights violations during investigations by enabling socially and economically disadvantaged individuals to receive legal assistance even at the investigative stage."

Under the current Criminal Procedure Act, public defenders are appointed only for criminal defendants who have been indicted. For criminal suspects, only those who have had an arrest warrant requested and undergone a warrant review or those who have undergone a detention review are exceptionally eligible for public defender assistance.

The 'Criminal Public Defender System' being promoted by the Ministry of Justice aims to expand the scope of public defender eligibility to include suspects who are minors in cases punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment or detention of three years or more; persons aged 70 or older; persons with both hearing and speech disabilities; persons suspected of having mental or physical disabilities; and recipients or near-poverty class individuals under the National Basic Living Security Act.

To this end, the Ministry of Justice is promoting the establishment of the Criminal Public Defender Corporation as a legal aid corporation responsible for appointing and selecting public defenders for suspects, in addition to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation.

Meanwhile, the legal community is closely watching the situation with concerns that the introduction of the Criminal Public Defender System may reduce the number of criminal case retainers.

In particular, if public defender services are expanded to criminal suspects, small law firms or individual lawyers are likely to be more adversely affected than large law firms or former high-ranking officials turned lawyers.

The Korean Bar Association, which has expressed dissatisfaction with the current public defender system being court-led and has demanded the transfer of the system's management to the Bar Association, opposed the introduction of the 'Criminal Public Defender System' during discussions in 2017-2018, stating that "it is a concept that contradicts the separation of powers by having the executive control the executive and undermines the foundation of the defense attorney system."

They also argued, "The introduction of the Criminal Public Defender System would excessively expand the public sector in the legal market," and insisted that "the system should be limited to economically vulnerable groups in line with the purpose of the public defender system."

Regarding the discussion at the time about the Korea Legal Aid Corporation as the operating entity, they emphasized, "Both the prosecution, which is an investigative agency, and the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, the operating entity of the Criminal Public Defender System, are under the supervision and control of the Ministry of Justice," and expressed doubts about whether the system could be properly operated without being influenced by the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution.

Currently, the Ministry of Justice plans to establish an independent Criminal Public Defender Corporation separate from the Korea Legal Aid Corporation to operate the Criminal Public Defender System. However, concerns have been raised that if the Korea Legal Aid Corporation represents victims and the Criminal Public Defender Corporation defends suspects in the same case, conflicts of interest may arise between the two state agencies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.