Illegal Private Investigation and Errand Centers Still Remain Enforcement Blind Spots

Informing Victim's Address to Lee Seok-jun
Employee Arrested for Violating Personal Information Protection Act
Anyone Can Operate Business Just by Reporting
No Management Regulations... "Legislation Needed"

Lee Seok-jun (26), who killed a woman under personal protection and her family, is being transferred from Songpa Police Station in Seoul to the prosecution on the morning of the 17th. Photo by Song Seung-yoon

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Illegal private investigation agencies and errand centers, which have become hotbeds of violent crime, are left in regulatory blind spots.

According to the police on the 17th, Lee Seok-jun (26), who murdered the family of a woman under personal protection, obtained the victim's family home address through a private investigation agency and committed the crime. The employee of the private investigation agency was arrested on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act. The illegal activities of the private investigation agency led to a heinous crime of murder.

Under current law, the leakage of personal information is defined as illegal under various laws such as the Personal Information Protection Act and the Location Information Act. However, these laws only prohibit the act itself and do not directly affect the operation of private investigation agencies. Since they operate as a free business sector, anyone can run such a business by simply filing a report, and there are even many cases where they operate without any report at all. There are no management regulations at all, so the police and related authorities have no idea how many private investigation agencies currently exist in the country.

In August last year, following the revision of the Credit Information Act that allowed the use of the term "detective" for profit-making activities, the police announced plans to inspect private certification institutions related to detectives and conduct special crackdowns on illegal private investigation agencies and errand centers. However, only inspections of private certification institutions (5 out of 22 institutions were ordered to make corrections) were conducted in September and October of the same year, and no special crackdowns on private investigation agencies were carried out. At that time, the National Police Agency stated that it planned to proceed in the following year (2021), but no separate crackdowns were conducted this year either. It is said that due to the surge in workload for frontline investigators caused by the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecutors and police, as well as investigations into real estate speculation allegations, there was no capacity, and due to insufficient regulations for preemptive management and supervision of illegal private investigation agencies, special crackdowns could not be implemented.

The number of cases violating the Personal Information Protection Act occurring in legal blind spots has been increasing annually: 1,288 cases in 2018, 1,520 cases in 2019, and 2,003 cases last year. During the same period, violations of the Location Information Act also increased from 98 cases to 121 cases and 142 cases. Currently, two detective industry management bills have been submitted to the National Assembly to regulate the private investigation sector, but they have been pending for over a year in the Administrative Safety Committee, the relevant committee, due to conflicts of interest.

Lee Sang-soo, President of the Korea Detective Policy Association and Chair Professor of Detective Studies at Catholic University, said, "It is difficult to prevent the illegal activities of private investigation agencies that buy and sell sensitive personal information with only the Personal Information Protection Act, so they need to be brought into the formal system to strengthen regulation and management." He added, "Through the legalization of the detective industry management bill, we must prevent illegal personal information leakage, secure professional ethics in the private investigation field, and establish an institutional foundation for prevention and punishment."