Pro-government lawmakers file Criminal Procedure Act amendment on June 26
Pro-government lawmakers have introduced an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that would require police to complete investigations into criminal complaints and accusations within two months — a response to mounting criticism over investigative delays that followed the 2021 reform stripping prosecutors of their investigative oversight authority and granting police primary jurisdiction to close cases.
Article 127 of the amendment, filed June 26 by 12 pro-government lawmakers including National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Seo Young-gyo, states that "when a judicial police officer investigates a crime based on a complaint or accusation, the investigation must be completed and a decision on whether to refer the case to prosecutors must be made within two months of receiving the complaint or accusation."
The provision mirrors an existing Criminal Procedure Act clause requiring prosecutors to complete investigations into complaint or accusation cases within three months of receipt and decide whether to indict — but shifts the investigative subject from prosecutors to police and cuts the deadline from three months to two.
Under current police investigation rules, officers are already required to wrap up complaint and accusation cases within three months of receipt and must report to their unit chief if that deadline is missed. Even so, violations are frequent.
"Even now, handling cases within three months is a stretch," said a detective at a local police station. "I'm skeptical that simply cutting the deadline to two months — without adding staff or any other support — can actually solve anything."
However, the bill has yet to clear the subcommittee review stage of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, leaving room for revision. Rep. Kim Yong-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, one of the lead sponsors, said the two-month figure was included to reflect demands from civil society groups, but that the final version of the bill is expected to retain the existing three-month limit.
Rep. Park Eun-jeong of the Rebuilding Korea Party said at a joint press conference announcing the bill that "this legislation did not emerge overnight," adding that lawmakers had commissioned policy research and that civil society groups had spent months deliberating before the amendment was formally filed Sunday.
With the planned dissolution of the Prosecution Service set for October, the Democratic Party of Korea launched an internal Criminal Procedure Act reform task force on Wednesday to accelerate the legislative push. As the party weighs scrapping prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, attention is turning to how it plans to address the case backlog and investigative delays that have worsened since the 2021 reform.
Data from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office show that the average processing time for criminal cases more than doubled after the 2021 reform took effect — rising from 142 days in 2020 to 312 days in 2024. The figure stood at 168 days in 2021, climbed to 185 days in 2022, and reached 214 days in 2023.
The Board of Audit and Inspection said in its regular audit last year that both the speed and thoroughness of police investigations had declined since the 2021 reform. An analysis of Korean National Police Agency data found that the average processing time for cases opened by police rose from 59 days in 2020 to 63 days in 2024 — a figure covering only the period from case intake to police closure and excluding additional time spent on supplementary investigations.
The board also said police do not track the total effective investigation period — including time spent on prosecutorial supplementary or re-investigations — making it difficult to analyze the full duration of cases or assess the overall state of case handling.
arin@heraldcorp.com
