Democratic Party pushes 'Prosecution Reform'... Prosecutors warn "Concerns over public harm"

All Prosecutors of Daegu District Prosecutors' Office Voice Concerns Over "Decline in Crime Response Capabilities"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] All prosecutors affiliated with the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office have expressed concerns that the so-called 'Complete Removal of Prosecutors' Investigation Rights' bill, promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea, will significantly weaken the nation's crime response capabilities.

On the 8th, the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office headquarters and branch offices held a real-time video conference attended by 150 members, including all chief prosecutors, branch chiefs, prosecutors, and department heads, to discuss current issues such as the Prosecutors' Office Act amendment bill being pushed in the National Assembly.

At the meeting, prosecutors from the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office reached a consensus that "the nation's crime response capabilities will be greatly diminished, and there is a concern that the public will suffer significant harm."

The Daegu prosecutors expressed the opinion that due to the criminal justice system implemented last year, prosecutors' investigative rights have been restricted, leading to a sharp increase in crimes that are not properly punished. In fact, among cases not transferred by the police to the prosecution, false accusation cases dropped sharply from 706 in 2020 to 206 last year, a 71% decrease. Given that it is unlikely that the number of complainants committing false accusations decreased so drastically within a year, the prosecution analyzes that crimes are increasingly going unpunished and being buried due to the system changes.

The prosecution foresees that if the minimal control mechanism?the prosecution's supplementary investigation request system over the police?is abolished, the responsibility for cases will become unclear, weakening crime response capabilities and resulting in many instances where the substantive truth is not uncovered.

Furthermore, the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office stated that artificially separating investigation and prosecution maintenance is impossible. For example, the Securities Crime Joint Investigation Unit, abolished in 2020, had prosecuted 31 cases in 2019, including detaining and indicting 7 individuals, but after its abolition, there was not a single detention indictment, and only 10 cases were prosecuted.

Prosecutors attending the meeting reportedly expressed opinions such as "It is impossible under the current trial structure for a party who did not conduct the investigation to maintain the prosecution, and to effectively respond to anti-corruption and corporate crimes, investigation and trial must be organically integrated; otherwise, neither investigation nor trial can be properly conducted."

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