Annual 50 Traffic Accident Case Outcomes Reversed... Perpetrators and Victims Sometimes Switched

Assemblyman Kim Young-bae: "We Must Enhance Expertise in Traffic Accident Investigation"

Kim Young-bae, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] It has been revealed that over 300 cases in the past five years involved errors such as victims and perpetrators being reversed during police traffic accident investigations, resulting in changes to the handling outcomes during the objection process.

According to data submitted by the National Police Agency to Kim Young-bae, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, errors were found in 315 cases through objections related to traffic accident investigations over the past five years, leading to changes in the handling results. Among these, there were as many as 150 cases where the victim and perpetrator were switched.

Traffic accident objections are a system where one can request a reinvestigation by the provincial police agency regarding the traffic accident investigation results handled by police stations, and the received objections are reinvestigated by the objection investigation teams of each provincial police agency.

The number of cases where the handling results were overturned through such objections has been increasing annually: 41 cases in 2015, 42 in 2016, 53 in 2017, and 72 in 2018.

Among the cases with results differing from the first investigation, Daegu recorded the highest number of content change errors with 40 cases, followed by Gyeonggi Nambu with 35 cases, Incheon with 34 cases, and Daejeon with 28 cases. In the case of 'gapibyeon-gyeong' (victim-perpetrator reversal), Gyeonggi Nambu led with 31 cases, followed by Gyeongbuk and Daegu with 22 cases each.

Assemblyman Kim stated, "More than 50 traffic accident investigation results are overturned every year, and cases where victims and perpetrators are reversed can lead to human rights violations," adding, "To regain public trust, the police must enhance the expertise of traffic accident investigators affiliated with frontline stations."