National High Prosecutors' Office Secretaries Meeting: "Abolishing Prosecutor Investigators' Role Weakens Drug Investigations and Causes Public Harm"

by Choi Sukjin

Published 21 Apr.2022 09:10(KST)

Seoul Seocho-dong Supreme Prosecutors' Office. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist Reporter] The secretaries leading investigators at the high prosecutors' offices nationwide argued that if the Democratic Party's proposed 'Geomsu Wanbak' (complete removal of prosecutorial investigative authority) bill is implemented, investigative capabilities for anti-corruption and drug cases will weaken, and swift case processing will become difficult, ultimately harming the public.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 21st, the secretaries of the high prosecutors' offices nationwide held a 'National High Prosecutors' Office Secretaries Meeting' at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office the previous day. They discussed the problems of the bill abolishing the status and role of prosecutorial investigators as judicial police officers, as well as the status and functions of prosecutorial investigators and the impact on the public, and then summarized their position accordingly.

In particular, the secretaries attending the meeting agreed to actively oppose the legislative revision that denies the criminal justice system maintained for 70 years and completely overturns it in just two weeks.

They emphasized that if the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors' Office Act containing the 'Geomsu Wanbak' provisions are passed and implemented, the roles and functions of investigators belonging to 57 investigative and inquiry divisions nationwide and five anti-corruption divisions, which are direct investigation departments, will be completely abolished, weakening anti-corruption investigative capabilities.

Currently, the investigative and inquiry divisions of prosecutors' offices nationwide handle six major crimes including corruption crimes, major economic crimes, and police officer crimes under the direction of prosecutors.

They also expressed concern that if the revised law is implemented, over 900 criminal division prosecutors nationwide will no longer be able to conduct supplementary investigations, making it difficult to promptly process cases transferred from the police, and that the resulting harm will be borne by the public.

Especially amid the increasing drug crimes, they stressed that if the drug investigator system is abolished due to the implementation of the revised law, the nation's capacity to respond to drug crimes will significantly weaken.

As of last year, prosecutorial drug investigators reportedly directly handle about 46.7% of nationwide smuggling cases and 80% of methamphetamine smuggling through close international cooperation with drug investigation agencies in over 30 countries overseas.

They also argued that with about 100,000 criminals who have been sentenced but remain at large and wanted, abolishing the role of prosecutorial investigators who have been carrying out the execution of sentences will incapacitate the prosecution's sentence enforcement function.

As of the end of 2020, 95,363 people were wanted for failing to pay fines, and 5,345 people were wanted for evading imprisonment.

The partial amendment bill to the Prosecutors' Office Act proposed by the Democratic Party changes all prosecutorial investigation secretaries in the organizational provisions of the Prosecutors' Office Act (Article 16) to prosecutorial secretaries and deletes the provision (Article 32) allowing the Prosecutor General to delegate prosecutorial duties to Judicial Research and Training Institute trainees, prosecutorial investigation secretaries, or investigation clerks.

Furthermore, Article 46, Paragraph 1 of the law, which stipulates that prosecutorial investigators may engage in investigative affairs under the prosecutor's orders, was revised to allow them only to assist prosecutors in filing or maintaining indictments.