Ministry of Justice and Supreme Prosecutors' Office Prepare Follow-up Measures After Joint Inspection of Han Myeong-sook Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office have prepared concrete measures to improve inappropriate prosecutorial investigation practices.

This is a follow-up to the major improvement measures announced by the Ministry of Justice in July last year, following the joint inspection by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the case of former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Justice announced that it has prepared measures to improve investigation practices, including ▲establishing specific case assignment criteria within the Supreme Prosecutors' Office ▲creating a manual on transparency of prosecutors' contact with witnesses after indictment and procedures for recording and preserving pre-interview sessions ▲and preparing guidelines to reasonably limit summons investigations of detainees.

First, to resolve the arbitrary case assignment issue revealed in the reassignment of former Prime Minister Han's civil complaint case, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office established assignment criteria for documents related to cases received.

Case assignment shall first follow the organizational structure and the 'Regulations on the Organization of the Prosecutor's Office' and the 'Regulations on the Division of Duties of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office,' but in important cases where multiple or unclear related departments exist, the related departments' opinions shall be collected to allow reasonable adjustment or reassignment of the case, and the related procedures have been codified in the Supreme Prosecutors' Office guidelines.

Also, in anticipation that the need for prosecutors' pre-interviews will increase following the enforcement of the evidence admissibility restriction on suspect interrogation records prepared by prosecutors starting this year, a manual on procedures was prepared to prohibit inducement or threats when prosecutors contact witnesses or conduct pre-interviews after indictment.

Lastly, even if detainees are repeatedly investigated for the same case, if they are suspects, more than five times, or if they are witnesses, more than three times, prior approval from the department head must be obtained, and inappropriate conveniences without justifiable reasons are prohibited.

The Ministry of Justice reported that the Ministry and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office formed an 'Investigation Practice Improvement Council' and, through two face-to-face meetings and several non-face-to-face meetings, prepared and implemented these institutional improvement measures.

The Ministry of Justice stated, "With increased transparency in investigation and trial processes and the establishment of fairness in case assignment, the prosecution is expected to faithfully perform its fundamental role as a human rights protection institution and carry out investigation and trial duties more rationally and objectively." It added, "Going forward, the Ministry of Justice and prosecution will do their best to improve the prosecutorial organizational culture in line with a series of institutional improvements to realize justice that the public can empathize with."

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