Seoul Central Public Prosecution Office creates units to review cases police declined to refer

The Seoul Central Public Prosecution Office — formerly the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office — has established dedicated units to review cases that police and other investigative agencies declined to refer for prosecution. The move comes after the prosecution service was abolished on Oct. 2 and prosecutors lost their investigative authority, shifting greater responsibility for investigations to police and other agencies. The office said the units are intended to correct unlawful or inadequate investigations before they cause injustice, and to prevent cases from being buried in ways that leave victims without recourse.

The office said Thursday it had set up the First and Second Non-Referral Review Divisions under a reorganization of its structure, assigning nine prosecutors with experience and expertise to staff them. The nine are career prosecutors with backgrounds spanning anti-corruption, tax crimes, cybercrime and information technology offenses, comprising three deputy chief prosecutors and six prosecutors with more than 10 years of experience.

The new divisions will review non-referred cases for unlawful or inadequate investigation at the same depth applied to referred cases, actively demand reinvestigation where warranted, and handle objection filings swiftly and with clear accountability.

The office said thorough re-examination of entire investigation records submitted after a non-referral decision — weighing evidence and legal reasoning and identifying gaps — requires prosecutors with extensive experience in investigation, indictment and trial work.

The divisions will take over non-referred and investigation-suspended cases previously split between the criminal divisions and the former Major Economic Crimes Investigation Unit. From last September through August this year, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office received 44,929 non-referred cases and 14,295 investigation-suspended cases. The criminal divisions and the economic crimes unit currently hold 29,780 non-referred cases and 13,431 investigation-suspended cases, respectively.

When a review finds that an investigation was inadequate or that evidence was assessed or legal standards were applied incorrectly, the divisions plan to demand reinvestigation without limit on the number of requests. If a proper reinvestigation cannot be expected from the original agency, they will actively refer the matter to a higher investigative authority or a different agency.

The divisions will also handle all objection filings submitted by victims and others who contest non-referral decisions, the office said, so that the public's check on police authority to close investigations is carried out efficiently and consistently.

If an investigating officer fails without justification to comply with a reinvestigation request, the office said it will establish consistent, unified standards and procedures and seek the officer's removal from duty or disciplinary action.

The non-referral review divisions will additionally take on warrant review and processing for applications from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a function previously handled by the human rights protection division. Given the concentration of major cases at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the office said it chose to centralize warrant handling under the new divisions rather than dispersing it across multiple departments. Warrants from individual police stations outside the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency will continue to be handled by the relevant criminal divisions and dedicated units.

"The Non-Referral Review Divisions will draw on the accumulated expertise of senior prosecutors to conduct thorough record reviews on par with referred cases and to make well-grounded reinvestigation requests, so that the legality and appropriateness of non-referred cases are carefully examined and the rights and interests of the public are fully protected," an office official said. "We will do our utmost to protect the public's rights — ensuring that unlawful or inadequate investigations do not leave innocent victims without justice, and that no one is denied recourse because a case was buried."