[Law & Story] How the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office Can Revive Even Now

A Disappointing Report Card for the First Term of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office
Investigative Power Must Be Focused on Major Cases
The Right Person Needed for the Second Head of the Office

Seokjin Choi, Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter.

The arrest warrant recently requested by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office was once again dismissed. The suspect is accused of accepting bribes worth around 1 billion won. The judge reviewing the warrant pointed out "lack of evidence" and "room for factual and legal disputes," indicating that the investigation was inadequate. The initial term of Kim Jin-wook, the first head of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office, will expire in January next year, and all four arrest warrants requested so far have been dismissed. It is an embarrassingly poor record that is hard to console with the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."

More regrettable than the insufficient results confirmed by numbers is the fact that public expectations and trust in the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office have disappeared. No one is interested in the investigations conducted by the office or the selection of the next head. Indifference is more frightening than criticism. The current situation of the office is like being alive but essentially dead.

It is unreasonable to attribute the failure of the first term of the office solely to the lack of ability of the head, deputy head, or prosecutors. The office, created under the unilateral leadership of the Democratic Party during the Moon Jae-in administration, had an inherent limitation from the start in maintaining "political neutrality." This is evident from the fact that it focused on investigating President Yoon Seok-youl, who was the opposition party's presidential candidate, and that Prosecutor Lee Seong-yoon, a university alumnus of President Moon, was given an "imperial escort" with the head's official car.

The biggest problem was that, as an investigative body meant to check the prosecution, it thoroughly ignored prosecutors with rich investigative experience and appointed judges as the head, deputy head, and chief prosecutors. Head Kim had only briefly worked as an investigator on a special prosecution team and spent most of his career as a researcher at the Constitutional Court. Investigation is often compared to surgery, but this is like handing a scalpel to an internal medicine professor and asking them to perform surgery. Frequent human rights violation controversies during search and seizure processes can be seen as an inevitable result. It was also problematic that the office exhausted its energy by engaging in unnecessary conflicts with the prosecution from the beginning. A representative example is the claim for the authority of "referral with reserved prosecution rights," which was abandoned after one year.

Head Kim often appeals about the office's budget shortage and manpower difficulties whenever he has the chance, but it is hard to gain sympathy as it is now. Why would anyone increase the budget for an institution that cannot even conduct investigations properly?

It is necessary to abandon greed and focus investigative power on a truly important few cases. Also, great care must be taken to avoid suspicion of political neutrality. To fix the flaws in the hastily created law, the prosecution and police must work together, and the ruling and opposition parties must cooperate to find solutions.

The growth process of the Constitutional Court is worth referencing. The Constitutional Court also experienced severe conflicts with the Supreme Court over the position of the highest judicial institution in its early days but firmly established itself as a human rights protection institution by asserting its presence in major cases.

The committee for recommending candidates for the next head of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office has begun its activities. The ruling party recommended a "proponent of abolishing the office," while the opposition party recommended a person who served as the disciplinary committee chair during President Yoon's time as Prosecutor General. This choice raises doubts about whether the people are truly being considered.

It will not be easy, but a person with rich investigative experience who can maintain political neutrality must be found. If the office is not going to be abolished after all, it must be completely revamped to function properly. After the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police, the police are struggling with an overwhelming number of cases, and the prosecution's investigative power has noticeably weakened compared to before. It is time to contemplate the future of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office together.

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