Prosecutor General's Office: Half of Cases Requiring Supplementary Investigation Have Not Been Implemented for Over 3 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Following the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and the police, which granted the police the right to conclude primary investigations for the first time in the first half of last year, it was found that about half of the cases for which the prosecution requested supplementary investigations remained unfulfilled for more than three months.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced on the 12th the 'Statistics Related to Current Investigation Procedures' containing this information.

According to the data, among the cases nationwide where the prosecution requested supplementary investigations from the police in the first half of last year, 56.5% were supplemented and returned to the prosecution within three months (26.2% within one month, 30.3% within 1 to 3 months). Cases that took 3 to 6 months for supplementary investigation accounted for 19.1%, and those taking more than six months accounted for 11.4%. Among the cases requested for supplementary investigation in the first quarter (January to March) of last year, 8.9% (3,843 cases) remained unfulfilled for over a year as of this date.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office explained that in one district prosecutor's office in the metropolitan area, out of 387 cases requested for supplementary investigation in the first quarter of last year, 117 cases (30.2%) had not been responded to for over a year.

Among the cases requested for reinvestigation in the first half of last year, half (50.0%) were reinvestigated within three months, but 35.1% took more than six months to complete reinvestigation. Among the cases requested for reinvestigation in the first quarter of last year, 17.8% (491 cases) had no updates for over a year.

The prosecution's greatest concern following the adjustment of investigative authority is false accusation crimes. Since false accusation is not within the prosecution's direct investigation scope, the police must transfer the cases, but many false complaints and accusations remain buried. In fact, last year, the prosecution's recognition and disposition of false accusation cases were 194, a 71% decrease compared to 670 cases in 2020.

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