[Ministry of Justice Report] Reviewing 'Investigation-Prosecution Separation Plan'... "Will Prevent Abuse of Investigation Authority"

Inspection System Reform... Ministry of Justice to Strengthen Post-Control Measures

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Ministry of Justice has announced that it will review the prosecution's plan to separate investigation and prosecution powers. This is aimed at preventing the abuse of investigative authority, and the ministry also expressed its intention to communicate with related organizations such as the National Assembly and the prosecution.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Justice released the '2021 Major Work Plan of the Ministry of Justice,' which includes key tasks for this year such as ▲establishing the criminal justice system ▲creating a safe society where citizens feel secure ▲promoting legal administration related to people's livelihood ▲and enacting human rights policies.

The most notable point is the reform of prosecutorial power following the establishment of the criminal justice system. The Ministry of Justice's goal is to complete a human rights-centered criminal justice structure through checks and balances.

First, the ministry formalized the recent controversial 'review of the separation of investigation and prosecution powers.' This is to prevent the abuse of investigative authority and to establish the status of prosecutors as human rights protectors by reviewing various separation plans that the public can sympathize with.

Along with this, to prevent the decline of national investigative capabilities in corruption, economic, and financial crimes due to the reduction of direct prosecution by the prosecution, the ministry plans to prepare comprehensive countermeasures such as establishing separate investigative agencies, strengthening special investigative officers, and building specialized investigative systems.

The ministry will also propose measures to enhance the objectivity of prosecutorial power exercise. Representative examples include improving the operation procedures and methods by reorganizing various committee systems such as the Prosecutorial Citizen Committee and the Investigation Review Committee. They also proposed securing the fairness of prosecutorial investigations through the rational exercise of investigative command authority by the Minister of Justice.

The inspection system will also be revised. Although the 'Ministry of Justice Inspection Regulations' amended in October 2019 significantly expanded the Ministry of Justice's direct inspection reasons over the prosecution and introduced reporting and data submission obligations to the Minister of Justice, the ministry intends to further organize these to strengthen post-control.

Efforts will also focus on the capacity for the stable implementation of the new criminal justice system. Considering that new procedures such as objection by complainants and requests for supplementary investigation by the police have been activated following the police's primary authority to conclude investigations and the abolition of investigative command, the ministry plans to organize systems at each stage. In particular, they will establish educational courses at the Legal Research and Training Institute to minimize work confusion among frontline prosecutors and staff regarding the new system.

The ministry also plans to establish the most important cooperation system between the prosecution and police for the settlement of the new criminal justice system. They will create an investigative agency council between the prosecution and police to promptly respond to emerging issues and support the fair operation of the warrant review committees established by each high prosecutor's office to handle police objections related to warrants.

Following the enforcement of the investigative authority reform law, the ministry will also reorganize organizations based on changes in frontline office tasks and empirical statistics. The core is to reorganize direct investigation departments and reallocate investigative personnel.

Additionally, the ministry will establish a 'Investigation Cooperation Department' responsible for cooperation with the police on important cases and a 'Human Rights Protection Department' dedicated to human rights protection and judicial control tasks. They are also considering reorganizing the existing criminal division prosecutor's office into a trial preparation type and discussing plans to significantly reinforce personnel and organization in the trial division. A Ministry of Justice official stated, "We will continuously identify insufficient reform tasks and promote them swiftly to secure momentum for the second half of the government term through the completion of reforms following the Candlelight Revolution's cause."