Hong Seok-ki, head of South Korea’s National Office of Investigation, said Monday, Sept. 28, that planned prosecution reform would not give police excessive authority. He cited the creation of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which he said would make the scope of investigations conducted solely by police smaller.
The revised Criminal Procedure Act will strip the prosecution of its investigative powers. Under the plan, the new agency will investigate 7 categories of major crimes, including corruption and crimes against state security. The reform is scheduled to take effect Friday.
The changes have also prompted concerns that oversight of police investigations could weaken, as prosecutors will lose the power to conduct supplementary investigations. Hong acknowledged that police responsibilities would increase and pledged to cooperate with requests for additional investigative work.
“Police will have to fill in many of the areas where the prosecution will no longer be able to conduct supplementary investigations,” Hong said at a regular briefing. He argued that assigning 7 categories of serious crime to the new body would reduce the range of cases handled by police alone, even as police take on more responsibility.