[2023 National Audit] About 10,000 Cases of Prosecutors and Judges Booked as Suspects Last Year... Zero Formal Trial Cases

Last year, the number of cases in which judges and prosecutors were booked as suspects reached about 10,000, but it was confirmed that not a single case was brought to a formal trial.

Although there is a possibility that this is a false figure due to the excessive filing of complaints and accusations by those dissatisfied with case handling, considering that the overall prosecution rate for criminal cases exceeds 40%, it has been pointed out that this rate is excessively low.

Park Yong-jin, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

According to the 'Status of Receipt and Handling of Crimes Committed by Judges and Prosecutors as Public Officials' submitted by the Ministry of Justice to Rep. Park Yong-jin of the Democratic Party on the 19th, there were a total of 5,809 cases last year in which prosecutors were booked as suspects, of which 5,694 cases received legal dispositions such as prosecution or non-prosecution.

Among these, there were no cases brought to a formal trial. Only one case (0.02%) was summary prosecuted, requesting a fine or administrative penalty.

There were 2,609 cases (45.82%) of non-prosecution, and 3,084 cases (54.16%) received other dispositions such as supplementary investigation or transfer to another jurisdiction.

The number of cases in which judges were booked last year totaled 4,812, of which 4,792 cases received dispositions, but similarly, there were no cases referred to a formal trial. One case (0.02%) was summary prosecuted, and 1,952 cases (40.73%) were non-prosecuted.

There is a significant difference compared to the overall criminal case statistics, including the general public.

Among the 1,463,477 criminal cases handled by the prosecution last year, 608,836 cases were prosecuted, resulting in a prosecution rate of 41.60%. Non-prosecution dispositions accounted for 498,582 cases (34.07%) of the total criminal cases.

Rep. Park said, "Just by looking at the disciplinary status of judges and prosecutors recorded in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea, one can see how unreasonable this result is," and criticized it as a "typical legal cartel." He added, "When people without money, connections, or power are anxious, someone else can commit crimes with peace of mind. This is exactly the point where the public feels anger and suspects unfairness."

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