On May 3, local time, at the last state meeting of President Moon Jae-in's term, the South Korean Council of State approved the promulgation of two major bills aimed at "separating the prosecutor's right to investigate and prosecute", and the current South Korean criminal justice system that has lasted for 74 years is facing major changes.
According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and Hank National Daily, on the morning of the 3rd, the South Korean National Assembly held a plenary meeting and passed the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law with 164 people in favor, 3 people opposing, and 7 people abstaining. In the afternoon of the same day, Moon immediately convened a state council to approve the promulgation of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law and the amendments to the Prosecutor's Office Law, which was adopted on 30 January. As a result, the administrative procedures required for the promulgation and implementation of the relevant laws have come to an end.
On May 3, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea held a plenary session to vote on the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law. Image source: Yonhap News Agency
The two newly passed bills have significantly weakened the powers of South Korea's prosecutorial system, known as the "strongest center of power."
Article 4 of the former Law on the Prosecutor's Office stipulates that the prosecution has the right to investigate "six major crimes" – namely, "corruption, the economy, public officials, elections, military projects, large-scale accidents and other major crimes stipulated by presidential decrees". After the amendment is enacted, prosecutors will be barred from directly investigating four of the "six major crimes", and the scope of investigation will only be retained as "economic and corruption crimes". The new bill also provides that its original investigative powers will be handed over to the police, that prosecutors will have only the power to prosecute, and that prosecutors will not be able to prosecute cases they are investigating.
Article 196 of the former Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that the prosecution has "the authority to directly investigate". The amendment repealed the article, providing that prosecutors were allowed to supplement investigations only "to the extent that they did not prejudice identity." In addition, the amendment also expressly stipulates that "separate investigations are prohibited", that is, investigating agencies may not investigate other cases in an improper manner without reasonable basis for the purpose of investigating and handling cases in the course of investigation, and at the same time add the content that "the procuratorial organs continue to exercise the investigative power over police duties" to contain and control police power.
South Korean media pointed out that this means that South Korea will completely separate the direct investigation power and the public prosecution power of the procuratorate, and "completely deprive the procuratorate of the right to investigate." It is reported that the two amendments have a grace period of 4 months. In addition, in view of the holding of local elections in June, the prosecution's right to initiate direct investigations will be maintained until the end of December, when the indictment period for local elections expires.
Moon Jae-in said in the closed-door meeting of the State Council on the 3rd that the reform of the organs of power is the major mission of the candlelight government (referring to the government that successfully impeached the previous president through holding a democratic and peaceful candlelight rally, that is, the Moon Jae-in government) and the long-cherished wish of the people, and the adjustment of the procuratorial and police investigation power and the reform of the procuratorial organs are in line with the trend of the times.
Blue House spokeswoman Park Jiong-mi issued a written briefing on the same day, saying that Moon Jae-in said that the current government regards "the people are the masters of the government" as the primary goal of governance, promotes institutional reform in line with the principle of democratic checks and balances, and ensures that the power organs abide by their duties and are not used by political forces.
Moon pointed out that the amendments to the Prosecutor's Office Law and the Criminal Procedure Law have narrowed the scope of direct investigation by the procuratorate to anti-corruption and economic fields, and have separated the prosecution's investigation from public prosecution, preventing prosecutors from forcing suspects to confess or make statements about other cases that are not related to the case.
On May 3, at the Blue House, south Korea's presidential palace, Moon Jae-in (second from left) announced the beginning of the last state council of his presidency. Image source: Yonhap News Agency
In less than 20 days, less than 20 days have passed since the ruling party, the Common Democratic Party, announced the submission of amendments, and now using the majority of seats to promote the official promulgation of the bill, the "quick knife and chaos" bill reform has caused a strong shock in South Korea's judicial and political circles. One of the most sensational incidents was the collective resignation of a number of high-level procurators, including Prosecutor General Kim Woo-so, to resist the reform, triggering a power vacuum crisis in the procuratorial organs.
For a long time, South Korean prosecutors, who have both the power to investigate and prosecute, have often been criticized for abusing their powers such as conducting purposeful investigations and deliberately obstructing prosecutions. The view within the Common Democratic Party that supports the promotion of the bill believes that the bill can fundamentally solve the problem of the procuratorate's abuse of investigative power in the 74 years since the establishment of the procuratorial system. Opponents argue that the amendment violates procedural justice and could delay and weaken investigations and neglect to protect vulnerable sectors. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has criticized the reform bill as a "victim abandonment law" and a "criminal shelter law." The Chosun Ilbo editorial also said that as the backbone of South Korea's criminal justice system, although there have been many problems in the procuratorial system in the past and need to be improved, the house cannot be burned in order to kill bed bugs.
According to data from South Korean polling agencies, the Kyodpichi Democratic Party's rapid promotion of reforms has triggered the "defection" of some South Koreans. According to the results of a poll released by South Korean polling agency Media Tomato on March 14, 46.3 percent of people at the time were in favor of amending the law to remove the prosecution's right to investigate, 38.4 percent were against it, and 15.3 percent had no opinion. But in mid-to-late April, a poll conducted by South Korea's Gallup survey of 1,000 people over the age of 18 across the country showed that 55 percent believed that "prosecutors should retain the right to investigate six major crimes," while 35 percent thought it would be better to transfer power to the police. A recent poll published on May 3 by conservative media outlets Chosun Ilbo and TV Korea showed that voters in the Tokyo metropolitan area were 60.4 percent opposed to the amendment and 34.1 percent in favor.
Conservative media also analyzed that the implementation of the two bills has affected the support of the Common Democratic Party. According to a poll conducted by K-stat Research commissioned by Chosun Ilbo and TV Korea to target 2,415 voters in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, the Support Rate of the Kuomintang in the Metropolitan Area was 44.8 percent, 7.9 percentage points higher than that of the Kyodpj (36.9 percent). In a poll released by the agency in late April, the support of the two parties was less than 2 percentage points apart.
The Han Nationalities Daily pointed out that the implementation of the two bills is still a long way to go. According to the report, the current Joint Democratic Party has quickly completed the legislative process by relying on the advantage of the number of seats, and the next step is to form a "Korean version of the FBI", the "Major Crime Investigation Agency", which has the right to directly investigate the remaining two crimes (economic corruption) within a year and a half, completely depriving the prosecution of its direct investigation power. If it goes well, the procuratorate will lose most of its investigative functions and become a "public prosecution office" that only prosecutes and does not investigate. To this end, the Common Democratic Party needs to form a "Special Committee on Judicial Reform", and the relevant resolutions have been submitted on the 3rd. The National Forces Party has made it clear that it will not participate in this phase of the push, and it is expected that the procuratorial reform promoted by the Democratic Party will be a difficult road.
As part of the so-called "Blue House Curse," several South Korean presidents have been convicted and jailed after leaving office for being investigated and investigated by prosecutors. South Korea's president-elect Yoon Seok-yue, who is a prosecutor-turned-president in 2016, was in charge of investigating "cronies interfering in politics" and sent then-president Park Geun-hye, close associate Choi Soon-sil and Lee Jae-yong, vice president of Samsung Electronics, to a cell through the power of investigation and prosecution, and is a representative figure of the prosecutor who holds huge power. In recent years, Moon has continued to push for the reform of the procuratorial system, which has also become one of the reasons why Yin Xiyue originally resigned.
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