President Lee Jae-myung on the 5th ordered officials to "review and report in advance on how to handle it" regarding the operation of joint prosecution-police investigation units under the revised Criminal Procedure Act.
During briefings from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and the Ministry of Government Legislation held at the Blue House that day, Lee said, "I haven't read the revised Criminal Procedure Act," and asked whether prosecutors would be completely excluded from investigations within joint investigation units. Lee had, the previous day, approved at a Cabinet meeting an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that abolishes prosecutors' direct investigation authority. When Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said, "The legal basis for any and all investigations has been eliminated," Lee asked again, "Isn't there a difference between the basis being removed and being explicitly prohibited from doing so?"
Lee also asked Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung about regulations related to prosecutors' authority to request supplementary investigations, saying, "So we don't have to dismantle the joint prosecution-police investigation units that have been operating until now." Yun replied, "(Operating the joint investigation units) can be done," adding, "However, in the case of prosecutors conducting cooperative investigations, the prosecutor is not conducting the investigation directly."
Jung then pointed out, "In the case of joint investigation units, the basis for operation is very weak," noting it was "effectively nonexistent." Lee then said, "If it's not prohibited, then prosecutors can conduct investigations, can't they?" Jung countered, "When prosecutors of the Public Prosecution Office participate in investigations, there is an issue of admissibility of evidence, so they are barred from conducting investigations." He expressed concern, saying, "If this basis is not made clear in the investigation guidelines, there could be problems in the process of maintaining prosecution." In response, Yun said, in place of the joint prosecution-police investigation units, "I think a 'joint investigation unit of the Public Prosecution Office, the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, and the police' will likely be created."
Lee stressed, "When you overhaul an entire system that has been in place for decades, all problems are not cleanly resolved and it does not become a new system," adding, "You must devise measures for all possible problems to the greatest extent possible." He also urged Yun and Jung, "Consult well and prepare as much as possible for every possible case at the working level," asking, "A system is not something that ends with one attempt, so look for ways to supplement it as well."
