A revision to the Criminal Procedure Act that abolishes prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority includes a provision incorporating police leadership into the scope of judicial police officers, making senior police officers ranked at the level of Senior Superintendent General or higher legal subjects of investigation. Some in the legal community have voiced concerns that police leadership gaining direct investigative authority could increase political pressure on the police and weaken internal checks. The police rebutted that the revision does not grant new powers, but rather resolves interpretive confusion by reflecting in law the changes in the police rank system since the Criminal Procedure Act was enacted in 1954.
According to the police and others on the 4th, the revised Criminal Procedure Act that passed the National Assembly on the 31st of last month changed the scope of judicial police officers stipulated in Article 197 from the existing "Superintendent General, Senior Superintendent, Superintendent, Senior Inspector, and Inspector" to "police officers ranked Inspector or higher." As a result, some 40 to 50 members of the police leadership ranked at Senior Superintendent General or above—including the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency, the head of the National Office of Investigation, and metropolitan and provincial police chiefs—are now explicitly included as judicial police officers and hold investigative authority.
Some in the legal community are concerned that as police leadership become direct subjects of investigation through this revision, the likelihood of political and other influence reaching individual investigations could increase. A legal community official pointed out, "If police leadership hold direct investigative authority under the law, there is inevitably greater room for political influence to intervene in investigations."
The police, on the other hand, explained that the revision does not grant new investigative powers to the leadership, but rather updates outdated legal provisions to match reality. When the Criminal Procedure Act was enacted in 1954, the ranks of Senior Superintendent General, Deputy Commissioner General, and Commissioner General did not exist, so the scope of judicial police officers was stipulated only up to Superintendent General. Although higher ranks were later established, the relevant provisions were not revised, leaving a continued mismatch between the current police rank system and the legal provisions.
In fact, during past adjustments to investigative authority between prosecutors and police, controversy arose over whether investigative directives by provincial police chiefs were lawful, on the grounds that Senior Superintendent Generals were not stipulated as judicial police officers under the Criminal Procedure Act. The police maintain that they submitted an opinion to the National Assembly that the scope of judicial police officers under the Criminal Procedure Act needed to be updated to match the current rank system in order to resolve such interpretive confusion, and that this was reflected in the current revision.
The police emphasized that there is no change to the existing system, under which the Commissioner General's direction of individual cases is restricted under the Police Act. A police official said, "This revision merely reflects the changed police rank system in law, and does not newly grant the Commissioner General the authority to direct individual cases."
