Seven out of 10 members of Minbyun, or Lawyers for a Democratic Society, a progressive lawyers' group, opposed the full abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation power, according to a survey.
Minbyun released the results of an opinion survey on revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act, conducted among 403 member lawyers, on Sunday. The survey was carried out online from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, ahead of the planned revision of the Criminal Procedure Act in October this year.
The survey found that 67.0% of respondents said prosecutors' supplementary investigation power should be retained either fully or partially. Partial retention was the most common answer at 45.9%, while full retention stood at 21.1%. By contrast, only 31.3% favored full abolition. This indicates that even within Minbyun, which is favorable toward prosecutorial reform, considerable caution exists over fully abolishing the supplementary investigation power.
As for the scope and requirements if the supplementary investigation power were partially retained, "allowed within the scope of maintaining identity" was the most common answer at 62.5%. This was followed by "when a statutory deadline is imminent" at 43.6% and "limited to specific crimes" at 39.2%. If the supplementary investigation power were recognized, 64.9% responded that "compulsory investigation should also be possible," more than the 35.1% who said "only voluntary investigation should be possible."
Many respondents also raised the need to restore the full-referral system. The full-referral system requires primary investigative agencies such as the police to transfer all investigated cases to the prosecution. It was effectively abolished after the 2021 realignment of investigative powers between the prosecution and police, which allowed the police to close cases on their own judgment without referring them.
Some 43.2% of respondents believed the current system should be maintained. Meanwhile, 23.8% supported introducing a partial full-referral system limited to serious violent crimes, and 23.6% supported a complete restoration of the full-referral system. Combining the two responses, 47.4% favored restoring the full-referral system in some form. Those supporting a conditional introduction of the full-referral system premised on abolishing the supplementary investigation power stood at 6.7%.
Kang Mun-dae, president of Minbyun, said, "Despite fierce debate and argument over a considerable period regarding the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, we were unable to reach a single position on some of the issues." He stressed, "The issues surrounding prosecutors' supplementary investigation power and the full-referral system should be discussed solely from the perspective of realizing judicial justice," adding, "Political interests or controversy over past wrongdoings should not become the background or criteria for the discussion."
As concerns over abolishing the supplementary investigation power spread throughout Minbyun and the broader legal community, recent distrust of police investigations is lending weight to arguments for retaining the power. In particular, in the murder case of a high school girl in Gwangju, suspicions emerged that the father of the suspect, an active-duty police officer, tampered with evidence and colluded with the investigation team, highlighting the need for external control over police investigations. Through supplementary investigation, prosecutors confirmed that Jang Yun-ki (23) killed the victim after failing in an attempted sexual assault and indicted him on charges including murder in the course of rape.
The Criminal Division 4 of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office also announced the interim investigation results of a fraudulent rental financing scam that day, saying it had detained and indicted the rental company's CEO, identified as A, and director B, on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Police initially referred the case as a fraud scheme worth 30 million won, but through supplementary investigation by prosecutors, it expanded into a nationwide financial fraud case with damages of 14.1 billion won.
Concerns are also continuously being raised that abolishing the supplementary investigation power could lead to a gap in remedying victims' rights. Kim Ho-jung, a prosecutor at the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, wrote on the prosecution's internal network E-Pros, "I am deeply concerned about whether sexual crime cases can be properly handled without the supplementary investigation power," adding, "If the supplementary investigation power is abolished, it will produce large numbers of wronged suspects and victims."
