Cha Jin-a

The author is a professor at Korea University Law School

The government and ruling Democratic Party (DP) recently decided to abolish the nation's prosecutors' offices, citing the abuse of prosecutorial authority and political bias. The decision did not come as a surprise. The process had begun years earlier when the legislature curtailed prosecutorial authority, stripping prosecutors of their supervisory power over police investigations and narrowing their direct investigative rights from six categories of serious crimes to two. The abolition now raises a fundamental question: for what purpose, and for whom, is this reform being carried out?

Supporters have framed the measures as protecting human rights. Yet lawyers and victims of crime tell a different story. They say the police have struggled to fill the gap left by prosecutors. Police often lack the legal expertise to handle complex financial crimes such as fraud and embezzlement, leading to delays or even abandoned investigations. These shortcomings disproportionately harm ordinary citizens and vulnerable groups who depend most on timely justice.



The evidence is stark. After the 2021 revision of investigative authority between prosecutors and police and the 2022 enactment of full separation, delays have become widespread. In fraud cases, the proportion of police investigations taking longer than six months rose from 11.8 percent in 2020 to 28 percent in 2023. For embezzlement, the figure jumped from 20.5 percent to 50.6 percent. If reform truly sought to protect citizens and support victims, safeguards against such blind spots should have been included.

The core problem is the police's lack of legal training. The police are aware of this gap and are working to improve professional expertise, but building competence requires years of training and mentorship. Prosecutors say even new recruits need at least four to five years of practice before they can manage cases independently. Expecting police officers to reach comparable levels in a short time is unrealistic.

The revised Government Organization Act, passed on Friday under the DP's lead, sets a one-year grace period before abolition takes effect. That is far too short for police to build the expertise necessary to protect human rights. Even so, the government and DP pressed forward. The result suggests the priority is not the protection of citizens, but the political goal of eliminating prosecutors' offices.

The decision to push ahead without allowing time to safeguard citizens' rights implies that political expediency matters more than human rights. Rather than resolving delays and gaps, the government also plans to establish a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, consolidating authority over investigations. This risks undermining protections further by giving the administration greater influence over all investigative bodies.

History shows that powerful governments often collapse from internal weakness. The downfall of Alexander's empire, the decline of Rome and the fall of the Mongol and Ming empires all began within. Korea's own authoritarian Yushin system seemed unassailable but crumbled like a sandcastle.

The abolition of prosecutors' offices could become a similar liability for the Lee Jae Myung administration. Despite considerable public opposition, the government moved with unusual speed, much as the Moon Jae-in administration pressed ahead with the controversial appointment of Cho Kuk as justice minister, which later turned into a political crisis. A more balanced compromise might have avoided today's confrontation - ending direct prosecutorial investigations while preserving their right to demand supplementary investigations from police, with binding effect. Such an arrangement would have prevented extreme polarization and avoided creating a potential Achilles' heel for the current administration.

For now, the government may not feel vulnerable. But as delays, gaps, and failures in investigations...