As South Korea's criminal justice system faces a sweeping overhaul — with the abolition of the Prosecution Service and the establishment of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and a new public prosecution office set for October — the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has again called for its investigative jurisdiction to be extended to cover grade-4 and above investigators at the new agency.
The CIO held a regular briefing Tuesday at its office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, saying it had submitted a formal opinion calling for amendments to the CIO Act. The amendments would add grade-4 and above investigators at the Serious Crime Investigation Agency to its list of investigative targets, and expand its jurisdiction over police officers from the current superintendent general level down to superintendent. The CIO said it has consistently raised concerns about clarifying its prosecutors' authority throughout the revision process for the Code of Criminal Procedure.
"The establishment of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency is not simply the creation of a new investigative body — it represents a fundamental transformation of the criminal justice system," a CIO official said at the briefing. "It is clear that the CIO's role and position as the body responsible for investigating and indicting high-ranking officials must be redefined."
The official also said the agency needs more staff. "The question is who will check the investigative powers of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and how — and isn't that exactly what the CIO was created to do?" the official said. "We face criticism for a lack of results, but our investigations have their own characteristics. We are asking for our staffing to be normalized so we can carry out our standard functions."
The CIO's opinion also called for heads of basic local governments — including city, county and district offices — to be added to its list of investigative targets, and for the agency to be allowed to establish regional branch offices. "Everything is included — the abolition of fixed-term appointments, adding heads of basic local governments as investigative targets, and so on," the official said. "As the range of crimes subject to investigation grows, staffing follows. That means regional offices also need to be considered."
Earlier, CIO chief Oh Dong-woon appeared before a plenary session of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee on Friday. Oh said the case involving Ji Gwi-yeon, a senior judge at the Seoul Northern District Court who faces allegations of receiving entertainment at a room salon, was "nearly at the fact-finding conclusion stage and approaching its final phase."
A CIO official said Tuesday it was "difficult to say prematurely when a conclusion will be reached and announced," but added, "You can take the chief's words at face value," declining to elaborate further.
bell@heraldcorp.com
