OECD Expresses Concern Over Weakened Anti-Corruption Measures in South Korea's 'Geom-su-wan-bak Law'... Dispatches Inspection Team

Dispatch of Inspection Team in the First Half of This Year... Review of Corruption Investigation Status by Prosecution and Police

The anti-corruption body under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has reported the possibility of weakened anti-corruption capabilities due to the so-called ‘Geomsu Wanbak’ (complete removal of prosecutorial investigative authority) legislation and has decided to dispatch an inspection team to South Korea.

Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

According to the legal community on the 24th, the OECD Working Group on Bribery (WGB) resolved at the 4th quarter regular meeting held from December 5 to 8 last year at the OECD headquarters in Paris, France, to send an inspection team to South Korea in the first half of this year.

The Geomsu Wanbak law, enacted through the amended Criminal Procedure Act and Prosecutors' Office Act effective from September 2022, restricts the prosecution’s direct investigative authority and prohibits complainants from filing objections, raising ongoing concerns that it weakens the investigative capabilities in corruption cases.

The WGB is expected to dispatch an inspection team to South Korea before June to review the frontline corruption investigation status of the prosecution and police and to evaluate investigative capabilities following the Geomsu Wanbak legislation.

The WGB is an organization responsible for monitoring the implementation status of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention among member countries and for consultations aimed at strengthening the capacities of law enforcement agencies. South Korea has been evaluated on its anti-corruption capabilities and corruption investigation system through the WGB since joining the Anti-Bribery Convention in December 1997.

In April 2022, when the Geomsu Wanbak legislation was being promoted, the WGB expressed concerns in a letter signed by Chair Drago Kos, stating that "there must never be any weakening of South Korea’s anti-corruption and overseas bribery investigation and prosecution capabilities."