[Exclusive] Police Do Not Prosecute Any Cases of Disclosure of Suspect Facts for 10 Years... Controversy Over Protecting Their Own

0 People Referred, 49 People Not Referred
Obsolete Laws, Frequent Arbitrary Announcements
Assemblyman Yoon Geon-yeong: "Contrary to the Presumption of Innocence"

Amid recent controversies over indiscriminate disclosure of suspect information, it has been confirmed that the police have dismissed all cases that occurred in the past 10 years. Disclosure of suspect information is a criminal act that severely infringes on an individual's fundamental rights, but there are criticisms that proper punishment is not being enforced due to the investigative agencies’ tendency to protect their own members.

According to the office of Yoon Geon-young, the Democratic Party member and secretary of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, there have been 50 cases of suspect information disclosure from 2015 to August 2024. By year, there were 4 cases in 2015, 1 in 2016, 5 in 2017, 3 in 2018, 4 in 2019, 4 in 2020, 9 in 2021, 8 in 2022, 7 in 2023, and 5 cases recorded up to August 2024. Until last year, the number of people sent for prosecution was zero, while 49 were dismissed. Among them, 14 suspects belonged to the National Police Agency. Dismissal refers to the termination of a case when it is judged that there is no charge after a complaint or accusation. A police official stated, “No police officers have been prosecuted for suspect information disclosure during this period,” adding, “There are many cases where complaints are filed based on non-existent facts.”

Under criminal law, if investigative agency personnel such as prosecutors or police officers leak suspect information learned during their duties before the case goes to trial, they face imprisonment of up to three years or disqualification for up to five years. Since objectively unproven suspect information being disclosed externally can cause irreparable harm to the individual involved, it is considered a serious crime. However, investigative agencies have effectively rendered this law obsolete and disclose suspect information based on arbitrary judgment. Representative Yoon emphasized, “Disclosure of suspect information is a long-standing malpractice of investigative agencies that violates the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence,” and added, “Although there are countless cases of suspect information disclosure reported in the media, the fact that not a single case has been prosecuted can only be seen as prosecutors and police protecting their own members, who hold investigation and prosecution authority.”

Yoon Geon-young, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker
Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Following the death of the late actor Lee Seon-gyun and the subsequent concerns over excessive disclosure of suspect information, the National Assembly proposed the so-called ‘Lee Seon-gyun Prevention Act.’ The Suspect Information Disclosure Prohibition Act, submitted by Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Bu-nam, stipulates that investigative agencies are, in principle, prohibited from disclosing any investigation details or suspect information related to the case parties. Exceptions allow disclosure in cases of ▲ crimes that may cause human rights violations or multiple victims ▲ crimes posing an imminent threat to public safety ▲ crimes where providing information to the public is necessary for apprehending the suspect or discovering important evidence. If an investigative officer violates the law by disclosing suspect information, they face imprisonment of up to five years or disqualification for up to five years.

Jung Hwan-chul, senior expert of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, stated in a review report, “While the criminal law’s suspect information disclosure offense has become obsolete, the legislative intent to balance the public’s right to know and the suspect’s honor and human rights has positive aspects,” but also noted, “There is a need for supplementary review regarding the relationship between the punishment provisions of this law and the criminal law’s suspect information disclosure offense, the complexity of defining detailed obligations as elements of the punishment clause, and the possibility that the public information officers’ duties may be restrained, potentially limiting the public’s right to know.”