Ministry of Justice Revises 'Criminal Case Non-Disclosure Regulation' Created During Cho Kuk Era... Effective from the 25th

Abolition of Criminal Case Disclosure Review Committee and Allowing Deputy Chief Prosecutors to Handle Public Relations Directly... Maintaining Ban on Photo Lines

Ministry of Justice, Government Gwacheon Complex. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The Ministry of Justice (Minister Han Dong-hoon) has amended the "Regulations on the Prohibition of Disclosure of Criminal Cases," which were established during the tenure of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk.

These regulations were introduced under the pretext of protecting the human rights of suspects but were used as a tool to block coverage of investigations into power-related corruption cases during the Moon Jae-in administration. Earlier this year, a civic group filed a constitutional complaint arguing that the regulations infringe on the public's right to know, and the Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the case.

On the 22nd, the Ministry of Justice announced that it has prepared the "Regulations on the Disclosure of Criminal Cases," which improve the methods and conditions of public disclosure of criminal cases to realistically balance the human rights of those involved and the public's right to know, and that these will be enforced starting from the 25th.

First, the Ministry of Justice will maintain the existing principle of prohibiting the disclosure of criminal cases in order to protect the human rights of suspects, continuing current practices such as restricting the installation of photo lines within prosecution offices and disclosure by professional public relations officers not involved in investigations.

On the other hand, to expand the guarantee of the public's right to know, various disclosure methods such as oral announcements or text messages will be permitted in addition to the existing written disclosures. In complex and significant cases, direct disclosure by investigative practitioners such as deputy prosecutors will be exceptionally allowed. In branch offices without a deputy prosecutor, the branch chief or senior prosecutor may take charge of disclosure.

Additionally, the Criminal Case Disclosure Deliberation Committee (Deliberation Committee), which reviews and decides on exceptional cases and the scope of disclosure, will be abolished. Under current regulations, the decision to convene the Deliberation Committee depends on the subjective judgment of each prosecution office’s public relations officer, and the committee’s decisions have only advisory effect. The Deliberation Committee has been pointed out as an obstacle to efficient investigative disclosure.

The Ministry of Justice stated that since the current regulations are overly restrictive in terms of disclosure conditions and methods, resulting in insufficient protection of the public's right to know and inadequate response to misinformation that increases distrust in investigations, it has been reviewing disclosure practices since last month and gathering opinions from academia, media, and the legal community to promote amendments.

The Ministry of Justice declared, "Going forward, by thoroughly adhering to the newly amended and enforced 'Regulations on the Disclosure of Criminal Cases' when disclosing criminal cases, we will do our utmost to protect the human rights of those involved and achieve the public interest objectives of criminal case disclosure."

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