Major Crimes Agency Vows to Break From Past as It Opens

Jeon Jong-min, deputy chief of the newly created Major Crimes Investigation Agency, said he would build the agency into the country's leading investigative body through political neutrality and investigative independence.

"We will treat the failings of the past as a mirror and will not repeat the same mistakes," Jeon said at the agency's launch ceremony held at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd. "We will grow the agency into the nation's foremost specialized investigative body, one the public can trust with confidence."

About 100 people attended the ceremony, filling the venue. Along with Jeon, they included Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung, Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials chief Oh Dong-woon, Acting National Police Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol, Supreme Court National Court Administration head Noh Kyung-pil, National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo, the heads of six regional offices of the agency and its new employees.

In his opening remarks, Jeon said he was well aware of widespread concern that the agency was being launched without adequate preparation. "There was plenty of criticism when Incheon International Airport opened in 2001, yet it has become one of the world's best airports," he said. "In the same way, we will turn skepticism toward this agency into trust."

To that end, he pledged to uphold five principles: protecting crime victims and the socially vulnerable; political neutrality and investigative independence; carrying out duties in line with the law and established principles; building specialized investigative capacity; and guaranteeing human rights and due process. "Our foremost principle will be restraint," Jeon said. "That does not mean investigating less. It means investigating more accurately."

"Just as state power was divided into legislative, executive and judicial branches, investigation and prosecution have now been separated," Jeon said. "In the midst of the biggest overhaul of the criminal justice system in 78 years, we will stabilize the organization as quickly as possible and make sure the new system takes root."

"We will be an investigative body that is firm in the face of serious crime but cautious when it comes to the freedoms and rights of the public," he said. "We will protect a Korea that leads the world in culture and technology, and we will stand as a world-class investigative agency."

Yoon, who delivered congratulatory remarks at the ceremony, said that even with investigation and prosecution separated, responsibility to the public must not be divided. "All criminal justice institutions, including the National Police Agency and the new prosecution service, must cooperate closely to build a seamless system of coordination so that no gaps emerge from the start of a case to its conclusion," he said.

Seo said that after 78 years the Prosecution Service was passing into history and the new agency would take over functions that prosecutors had handled, including serious crime, corruption by the powerful, economic crime, narcotics and defense-related cases. "The National Assembly will also do its utmost to provide the legislation and other support that is needed," she said.