[Editorial] Police and Prosecution Service Adjust Investigative Authority: The Beginning of Reforms in Law Enforcement Agencies

On June 21, the government announced an agreement on the adjusted investigative authority of the police and the Prosecution Service, which will abolish the Prosecution Service's right to lead an investigation and grant the police the authority to conduct and conclude the primary investigation. This is change in a positive direction for it meets the demand of the times to distribute the authority that is excessively concentrated in the Prosecution Service. The hierarchical relationship between the Prosecution Service and the police began when it was stipulated in the Prosecution Service Act in 1948, "The police must obey the professional orders of a prosecutor in a criminal investigation," because of distrust in the pro-Japanese police at the time. Later the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak governments tried to adjust the investigative authority, but failed every time because of opposition from the prosecutors. Thus the latest change can be evaluated as a historical agreement to conclude the seventy-year-old conflict between the police and the Prosecution Service. Cheong Wa Dae Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk said, "The minister of justice and the minister of the interior and safety have drawn up a settlement for the first time since the establishment of the South Korean government."

The key point of the latest settlement is that the police will have more autonomy and that the prosecutors will focus on judicial control. The police and the Prosecution Service will break away from the hierarchical relationship and enter a relationship of mutual cooperation for the smooth investigation, prosecution and maintenance of prosecution. This can be significant progress toward a more advanced investigation structure. Yet there are still some parts missing. First, the government retained special investigations and investigations launched by the Prosecution Service, but this shows that the government did not sufficiently reflect the thoughts of the citizens, who sought reforms in the Prosecution Service. In Japan, the police and the prosecutors each have independent investigative authority, but the prosecutors usually concentrate on the second supplementary investigation. The prosecutors directly investigate only 0.3% of the total cases, and among the fifty district prosecutors' offices nationwide, only three뾗okyo, Osaka, Nagoya뾥ave a special investigation department. It would be better for us to drastically reduce the scope of direct investigations by the prosecutors.

Some people have raised concerns that the police authority may be growing too big now with more power over investigations. Some even mention the birth of a new dinosaur agency. In particular, there is a great deal of concern over the fact that the police could secretly bury a case by deciding to close the case. According to the latest settlement, when the police decide to dismiss a case, they have to submit a statement on their decision along with all case records to the Prosecution Service, but there is a strong argument that granting the police the right to make a legal judgment could undermine the principle of the modern judicial system. It is necessary to further examine various safeguards, such as a democratic control system by the citizens, in addition to measures presented by the government, such as the division of administrative and judicial police, and the practical utilization of the Korean National Police Commission. Now that the police have earned the independent authority to conduct investigations, they should use this chance to make additional improvements, such as a systematic device to ensure fairness, measures to guarantee human rights, and measures to improve the quality of the police officers.

The introduction of an autonomous local police had been foreseen as a big stem of the latest adjustment in investigative authority. The government will have to make careful preparations so that the local police system will not end in simply distributing police authority, but provide good-quality services for public safety while contributing to decentralization.

The latest government settlement is not the end, but the beginning. Now the ball has been tossed to the National Assembly. The settlement will be finalized when ruling and opposition lawmakers reach an agreement and legislate relevant bills. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the real game begins now. But already, the police and the Prosecution Service are an eyesore, voicing their arguments and launching attacks. The National Assembly should not become a battlefield of a power game where the police and the Prosecution Service fight to gain more authority. Adjusting the investigative authority is a task that should be carried out with top priority on the citizens' safety and rights, not the vested interests of the two law enforcement agencies. We ask the National Assembly to act quickly so that reforms in law enforcement agencies can proceed without delay.

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