22nd General Election D-1: "Prosecution Reform Season 2" vs. Prosecution's "Restoration of Investigative Powers"

Democratic Party, Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and Progressive Party:
"Separation of Investigation and Indictment Powers, Introduction of Specialized Investigative Agencies"
Reform Party:
"Restoration of Prosecution's Investigative Command... Reduction and Oversight of the Special Investigation Division, Abolition of the CIO"

With just one day remaining until the 22nd general election, the Democratic Party of Korea, Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and Progressive Party have put forth prosecution reform pledges as key policies, including the separation of investigation and indictment powers, the direct election of chief prosecutors, and the dissolution of the Prosecutors' Office. In contrast, the People Power Party and the Reform Party have either not included prosecution reform measures in their major policy pledges or have proposed restoring the prosecution's investigative authority. As a result, depending on the election outcome, the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties over the prosecution's investigative powers is expected to intensify.

On the 5th, early voting for the 22nd National Assembly election began, and voters visited the Naegok-dong Early Voting Station set up at the Naegok-dong Open Culture Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to cast their votes. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

According to an Asia Economy report on April 9, the Democratic Party has announced the so-called "Prosecution Reform Season 2" as a major pledge, which includes separating investigation and indictment powers and abolishing the Police Bureau-essentially building on the revisions made in 2022 to significantly limit the prosecution's investigative authority. In 2022, the Democratic Party revised the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors' Office Act to drastically reduce the prosecution's direct investigative powers.

For this general election, the Democratic Party has pledged to: ▲ separate investigation and indictment powers ▲ enhance the expertise of investigative agencies ▲ enact an Investigation Procedure Act to protect the human rights of parties involved in investigations ▲ implement effective judicial oversight to prevent abuse of prosecutorial discretion in indictments and non-indictments ▲ promote democratic oversight of the police through the National Police Commission ▲ and ensure political neutrality of the police by abolishing the Police Bureau.

However, the Democratic Party has also prepared policy pledges related to public safety, such as strengthening the management and supervision of individuals with criminal records to prevent heinous crimes, including indiscriminate attacks; legislating against dating violence and enhancing protection systems for victims; and improving measures to separate and protect victims and perpetrators of stalking crimes.

The Cho Kuk Innovation Party has laid out detailed prosecution reform plans. Its key pledges include separating investigation and indictment powers, dispersing and checking prosecutorial power by strengthening the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), and introducing the direct election of chief prosecutors and an indictment jury system.

Specifically, the party plans to transform the Prosecutors' Office into an Indictment Office, limiting the prosecution to indictment authority and oversight of the legality of police investigations. It also pledges to completely abolish prosecutors' authority to initiate direct investigations and to establish specialized investigative agencies, such as the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the Narcotics Investigation Agency, the Financial Crimes Investigation Agency, and the Economic Crimes Investigation Agency.

Additionally, the party aims to introduce the direct election of chief prosecutors to dismantle the centralized, pyramid-like power structure of the prosecution and to foster a competitive structure for decentralization and reform. Notably, the Cho Kuk Innovation Party has announced a concrete implementation plan to gradually separate investigation and indictment powers and introduce specialized investigative agencies from this year through 2026. If these pledges are pursued after the election, fierce resistance from the ruling party and the prosecution is anticipated.

Similarly, the Progressive Party has pledged to dissolve the Prosecutors' Office and establish an Indictment Office, as well as to create new investigative agencies. One of its main prosecution reform pledges is to introduce the direct election of the 18 regional chief prosecutors by local residents.

On the other hand, the People Power Party has focused its policy pledges on strict punishment for crimes targeting ordinary citizens and expanding personnel for cybercrime investigations. Specifically, for heinous crimes and crimes against the livelihood of citizens, the party has pledged to apply a zero-tolerance policy, introduce life imprisonment without parole, impose harsher penalties and confiscate criminal proceeds for frauds targeting multiple victims-such as rental scams and voice phishing.

In the area of cybercrime, the party has proposed significantly increasing the number of specialized cybercrime investigators and expanding undercover investigations, which are currently limited to digital sex crimes against children and adolescents, to also cover adult women.

The Reform Party has made the abolition of the CIO one of its main judicial pledges. The party argued that the CIO has wasted budget, personnel, and political energy over the past three years without achieving results, and that it should be abolished since about two-thirds of its 8,000 investigation targets are judges and prosecutors.

Furthermore, the party stated that the prosecution's authority to direct investigations should be restored to respond to increasingly sophisticated crimes and to address delays and reluctance in police investigations. However, it emphasized that the scope and duties of the prosecution's anti-corruption division should be legally restricted, and that the division should be reduced and controlled until neutrality is secured through prosecution reform.

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