Prosecution and Police Hold Investigation Agencies Council Meeting for Next Year's General Election... Select Three Major Priority Crime Targets

Under Revised Investigation Guidelines, Active Utilization of 'Election Case Cooperation Procedures' Decided

The prosecution and police held an investigative agency council in preparation for next year's general election.

On the 19th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the National Police Agency held an investigative agency council to strictly respond to election crimes through close mutual cooperation regarding the 22nd National Assembly election scheduled for April 10 next year.

The investigation agency council meeting held on the 9th floor conference room of the Government Seoul Office Building on the 19th. Attendees included Park Ki-dong, Chief of the Public Investigation Department (Prosecutor General) from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Head of the Election Investigation Support Division, Kim Bong-sik, Director of the Investigation Bureau (Police Commissioner) from the National Police Agency, and the Head of the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Division. Photo by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office

The council, held from 10:30 a.m. in the conference room on the 9th floor of the Government Seoul Office Building, was attended by Park Ki-dong, Director of the Public Investigation Department (Chief Prosecutor) and the Head of the Election Investigation Support Division from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Kim Bong-sik, Director of the Investigation Bureau (Police Commissioner) and the Heads of the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Division from the National Police Agency.

At the meeting, both sides agreed that close and frequent cooperation between the prosecution and police to respond swiftly and strictly to election crimes is the top priority for a clean and fair election, and decided to promote measures including ▲establishing a cooperative system between prosecution and police election investigation departments by region and office ▲selecting key target crimes for intensive crackdown and conducting thorough investigations ▲actively utilizing the 'Election Case Cooperation Procedure' under the revised investigation guidelines ▲holding regular or ad hoc 'Election Case Investigation Working Councils' by region and office.

The key target crimes for intensive crackdown were selected as ▲spreading false information and black propaganda ▲receipt of money or valuables related to elections ▲interference in elections by public officials and organizations.

The prosecution and police organized this council under the judgment that, as this general election is the first National Assembly election conducted after significant changes in criminal justice procedures such as the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecution and police, it is necessary to respond swiftly and strictly to election offenders subject to a short six-month statute of limitations through close cooperation between the two investigative agencies.

First, the prosecution and police agreed to establish hotlines by region and office between election investigation departments nationwide.

By region, the 14 local prosecutors' offices and 18 city/provincial police agencies nationwide will be divided into 14 regions, and by office, a cooperative investigation system including a contact system will be established centered on designated responsible persons at each level of office, including 60 prosecutors' offices and 259 police stations.

By region, the hotline will be used to confirm whether the same case is being investigated and to discuss decisions on case transfers due to overlapping investigations. At each office level, through practical exchanges of opinions related to investigation matters such as specific case investigations, evidence collection targets, and application of laws, election crimes will be swiftly and strictly punished.

Meanwhile, the prosecution and police selected the following as the three major key target crimes for intensive crackdown: ▲'Spreading false information and black propaganda,' including baseless allegations against candidates through fake news and black propaganda on SNS, false statement publication, candidate defamation, and manipulation of public opinion polls in party primaries ▲'Receipt of money or valuables related to elections,' including money or valuables related to party candidate recommendations, election or primary campaign-related provision of money or valuables, and provision or demand of money or valuables related to candidate unification ▲'Interference in elections by public officials and organizations,' including election interference by public officials and public institutions, public officials' participation in primaries or election campaigns, and establishment of illegal private organizations or similar institutions, and decided to conduct strict investigations.

Additionally, the prosecution and police agreed to actively utilize the 'Election Case Cooperation Procedure' under the 'Regulations on Mutual Cooperation between Prosecutors and Judicial Police Officers and General Investigation Guidelines' (Investigation Guidelines), which was revised in October this year and implemented from November.

Article 7, Paragraph 1 of the revised Investigation Guidelines (Important Case Cooperation Procedure) states, "In the case of important cases such as election cases, prosecutors and judicial police officers may request to present and exchange opinions on matters to be investigated before transfer, targets of evidence collection, application of laws, and measures for recovery of criminal proceeds, and prosecutors and judicial police officers shall comply with the request of the other party unless there are special circumstances."

Paragraph 2 of the same article states that for election cases subject to a short statute of limitations, prosecutors and judicial police officers must present and exchange opinions at least three months before the expiration of the statute of limitations, and if an investigation is initiated within three months from the expiration date, they must promptly present and exchange opinions.

According to these revised Investigation Guidelines, the prosecution and police will necessarily present and exchange opinions on election cases at least three months before the statute of limitations expires, and for cases received within three months before the expiration, they will promptly present and exchange opinions, cooperating closely.

Also, for election commission complaints where the prosecutor does not file a public prosecution within three months from the date of accusation, which is considered a non-prosecution notification under the Public Official Election Act, the prosecution and police will promptly present and exchange opinions after receiving the complaint.

The prosecution plans to promptly transfer election-related cases, including election crimes outside the scope of investigation initiation under the revised Prosecutors' Office Act, to the police.

The prosecution and police also held an investigative agency council in December 2021 in preparation for the 20th presidential election and the 8th local elections held in 2022.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the National Police Agency announced that they will continue to discuss specific procedures such as methods for presenting and exchanging opinions related to cooperation procedures under the revised Investigation Guidelines by holding regular or ad hoc 'Election Case Investigation Working Councils.'

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