Seoul High Prosecutors' Office Increases Direct Investigation of Appeal Cases Tenfold... Announces Achievements of People-Centered Prosecution Task Force

Seoul Seocho-dong Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

[Asia Economy Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office has seen the rate of directly investigating appeal cases, in which it objects to the decisions of the local prosecutors' offices under its jurisdiction instead of sending them back, increase more than tenfold since June last year.

On the 9th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced the results of activities by the People-Centered Prosecution Task Force (Head: Park Seong-jin, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office), launched in June last year to establish a reformed criminal justice system and reorganize the prosecution organization and work system centered on the public.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the task force formed and operated 'People-Centered Prosecution TFs' in six high prosecutors' offices, researching various measures to innovatively transform the organization and culture to become a trusted, fair, and people-centered prosecution, while actively responding to changes in criminal division duties due to organizational restructuring and changes in trial environments caused by restrictions on the evidentiary power of suspect interrogation records prepared by prosecutors.

Until the 24th of last month, the results were shared and detailed implementation plans were discussed and finalized over six nationwide high prosecutors' meetings.

So far, the task force has prepared and implemented various improvement measures focusing on three subcommittees: ▲organizational reestablishment ▲investigation practice innovation ▲organizational culture improvement.

Specifically, they focused on ▲reallocation of prosecutors and investigators according to the changed criminal justice system ▲improvement of investigation practices to protect human rights ▲organizational culture improvements including gender equality, achieving noticeable results.

First, regarding organizational reestablishment, due to the adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution and the restriction on the evidentiary power of suspect interrogation records prepared by prosecutors under revised criminal laws, changes in the existing criminal division work methods became inevitable. Therefore, instead of maintaining the number of investigators participating in prosecutors' offices, personnel were reallocated to the investigation and inquiry divisions responsible for primary investigations of six major crimes handled by the prosecution and to departments handling appeals against police non-prosecution decisions.

Additionally, the prosecution investigation officer work regulations were established, related systems such as expanding special promotions based on performance were improved, a command and cooperation system with prosecutors' offices was built, and various training programs to strengthen investigators' capabilities were newly introduced. After these measures, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office reported a steady increase in work performance such as report preparation and warrant issuance in the investigation and inquiry divisions.

To ensure thorough and prompt handling of criminal cases directly related to citizens' lives and active trial work, the workload of prosecutors in the criminal and trial divisions was quantified, and evaluation data based on this was actively reflected in personnel and awards. Plans to strengthen trials by expanding trial divisions and increasing trial prosecutors are underway.

Regarding innovation in investigation practices, since September last year, the task force has implemented a system where independent human rights protection officers check compliance with human rights-related laws and fairness at each stage such as warrant requests, travel bans, and prosecution for six major crimes initiated by the prosecution.

When requiring the attendance of detainees, written notices are sent and lawyers are informed, repeated questioning is limited, and unfair convenience is prohibited. These improvements in detainee investigation methods have been implemented since January this year.

As the importance of witness examination has increased, a manual summarizing methods for pre-interviewing witnesses, precautions, and fairness assurance measures was produced and distributed. To prepare for trial delays and public inconvenience caused by the restriction on the evidentiary power of suspect interrogation records prepared by prosecutors, effective from this year, a manual covering various investigation methods such as video recording and audio recording, evidence preservation, investigator testimony, and defendant interrogation for trial response was produced and distributed.

Furthermore, the task force prepared rapid processing measures for clearly dismissible false accusations and complaints to promptly free wrongfully accused complainants from criminal procedures and focus resources on cases requiring investigation.

Standards such as adherence to territorial jurisdiction were established when assigning cases received by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to frontline offices, and procedures were set to consult related departments when designating internal departments to handle important cases with unclear jurisdiction.

Finally, regarding organizational culture improvement, attendance at transfer and entry events at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office was minimized to essential personnel such as heads of institutions to improve authoritarian culture, and internal communication was activated through communication bodies composed of representatives of various ranks and members.

Surveys on support for work-family balance were included as multi-faceted evaluation items for supervisors by subordinates, guidelines for anonymous sexual harassment counseling and prevention of secondary damage were established, promoting work-life balance and realization of gender equality values.

Meanwhile, the 'People-Centered Prosecution TF' established in six high prosecutors' offices identified and implemented tasks specific to each office.

First, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, judging that directly investigating appeal cases without returning them to the original decision office aligns with the appellant's intention, formed four investigation teams in the criminal division of the high prosecutors' office from August last year to expand direct investigations of appeal cases. As a result, the direct correction rate of appeal cases increased more than tenfold from 2.1% before the system's implementation to 20.2%.

To strengthen judicial control over police investigations and conduct substantive warrant reviews, suspect interviews were expanded to suspects for whom the police requested detention warrants, guaranteeing the rights of defense counsel participation and opinion statements (Seoul Central, Uijeongbu, Ulsan District Prosecutors' Offices). Chuncheon District Prosecutors' Office conducted suspect interviews before prosecution in principle for non-detained prosecution cases.

Daegu District Prosecutors' Office established a 'Public Interest Representative Team' to perform public interest representation roles beyond traditional prosecution roles such as investigation and trial, including filing dissolution requests for ghost corporations and preserving inheritance property by confirming heirs of deceased persons. Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office provided legal support such as guiding limited approval procedures to bereaved families in presumed suicide cases due to excessive debt to prevent 'debt inheritance.'

At Ansan Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, a simplified investigation method using audio recording devices and statement summary reports was actively utilized instead of time-consuming report preparation. As a result, as of November last year, report preparation decreased from 159 cases in July to 96 cases, while audio recording usage increased dramatically from 0 to 163 cases, resulting in a 44.5% increase in total investigation personnel from 245 to 354 cases.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office stated, "We will continue to properly perform our core duties entrusted by the public and continuously discover and implement various measures to protect human rights during investigations and improve organizational culture. We will consistently review already implemented improvements and consider expanding systems independently implemented at the frontline to become a people-centered prosecution, making our best efforts."

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