[One Year Since the Launch of Guksubon②] Controversy Over 'Inadequate Response' to Violent Crimes Amid Increased Investigator Burden

Average Case Processing Time Increased by 8.6 Days
Requests for Supplementing Prosecutor-Transferred Cases Up by 6.3%p
Measures Also Established for Prompt Victim Protection

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Although the National Investigation Headquarters (Guksubon) of the National Police Agency was launched under the banner of responsible investigation, there were also regrets revealed in various areas. It failed to completely dispel doubts about the fairness and professionalism of investigations, and controversies over inadequate responses to various violent crimes emerged, falling short of expectations. While the workload of investigators increased, there were also criticisms that the speed of investigations declined.

Foreseen Trial and Error... Increased Burden on Investigators

The trial and error after the launch of Guksubon was somewhat anticipated. As investigative authority expanded due to the adjustment of investigative rights, responsibility also increased, and it was natural that the workload of investigators grew. However, appropriate measures to resolve this were not implemented. The average case processing period last year was 64.2 days, about 8.6 days longer compared to 55.6 days in 2020. In addition, issues such as insufficient notification content of processing results and rejection of complaints and accusations were also pointed out.

The police cited the causes as the addition of decision-making roles during the investigation stage, strengthened notification to related parties, enhanced specific command by section and team leaders, and the newly added review procedures by investigation reviewers for investigation closure records, all of which increased the average workload per case due to the completeness and responsibility enhancement of police investigations. They also viewed the high proportion of new investigators having to balance practical work and training as a temporary cause. However, they explained that the processing period shortened because the problem of double investigations at the prosecution stage disappeared for cases closed without indictment due to the primary investigative closure authority. A police official said, "We will continue efforts to reduce delays caused by workload or lack of capability."

Questions about the completeness of police investigations also arose. Last year, the prosecution's request for reinvestigation of police cases closed without indictment was 3.5%, down about 1.9 percentage points from the previous re-instruction rate of 5.4%. However, the rate of requests for supplementary investigation on referred cases was 10.9%, 6.3 percentage points higher than the previous re-instruction rate of 4.6%. Regarding this, the police explained that parts previously handled directly by the prosecution are now principally requested from the police, and prosecutors, focusing on filing and maintaining indictments, have reviewed police investigation records more strictly and objectively over time.

There are also criticisms that some power-related investigations showed insufficient results. In the first half of last year, the investigation of real estate speculation offenders that shook the public identified 6,000 related offenders, but criticism arose that investigations targeting high-ranking officials were sluggish. Regarding the 'Daejang-dong suspicion,' there were also criticisms that the police at the time did not properly review the data provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

However, the police did not agree with the criticism that investigations were insufficient. A Guksubon official emphasized, "Last year, we arrested eight people by proving corruption involving sitting members of the National Assembly and local government heads. It is rare to obtain parliamentary consent to arrest sitting members. Investigations on sitting members are still ongoing, and we conducted investigations under the same standards for both ruling and opposition parties, not influenced by political considerations."

Repeated 'Inadequate Response' Controversies... Measures to Strengthen Response

The stalking murder case at an officetel in Jung-gu, Seoul, in November last year, followed by the murder case involving the family of an ex-girlfriend in Songpa, clearly exposed the police's lack of response capability. The police themselves admitted, "We fell far short of public expectations by failing to prevent violent crimes following stalking incidents and child abuse crimes that showed prior signs."

In response to confirmed gaps in proactive responses to such violent crimes and victim protection, the police announced measures to strengthen their response. For violent incidents involving relational crimes such as stalking, disputes between lovers, and neighborhood conflicts, a strong team will be deployed early to assess risks, and the system will be reorganized so that the precinct chief directly commands, securing the 'golden time.' Additionally, urgent and important victim cases will be investigated swiftly and intensively from the initial reception, investigation, evidence collection, arrest, victim recovery, to case closure to prevent further harm.

To prevent the recent surge in violent crimes against socially vulnerable groups and crimes with abnormal motives, the police pledged to thoroughly manage investigation histories of reported stalking and child abuse cases and pay close attention to victim protection measures such as emergency and provisional actions. Specifically, collaboration with KakaoT to build a violent crime alert system, early arrests, blocking additional crimes, and expanding the AI-based report writing system for sexual violence victims were mentioned. A Guksubon official said, "We will accept the public’s advice and criticism well and improve the investigative police's system."

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