0
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office building in Seoul. / Source: Yonhap News

The ruling Democratic Party’s special committee on prosecutorial reform has announced plans to completely abolish prosecutors’ supplementary investigation powers as part of legislation to separate investigation and indictment functions by the Chuseok holiday in October. The authority allows prosecutors to review police investigations and order additional inquiries when evidence is insufficient or facts remain unclear.

Legal experts warn that removing this power could weaken oversight of police case closures and undermine the rights of complainants, victims, and the accused. Prosecutors have used supplementary investigations to overturn incomplete police findings and uncover the full truth—particularly since the 2021 reform that granted police the right to close cases.

Seoul Central District Prosecutor Ahn Mi-hyun noted in an internal posting that supplementary probes had exonerated an innocent suspect wrongly accused of sexual assault, leading instead to the conviction of a woman for false reporting. In another case, the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office reopened a police-dismissed investigation into the gang rape and illegal filming of a middle school girl, indicting the main offender and three accomplices after finding new evidence.

High-profile cases such as the “valley murder,” the “three sisters’ rental fraud,” and the “Busan kicking attack” were also fully exposed through prosecutors’ supplementary investigations.

Former prosecutor-turned-lawyer Lim Moo-young cautioned that without this authority, “there would be no way to check police investigations. If collusion occurs between officers and suspects, cases could be closed as ‘no charges’ with ease, leaving victims with no recourse and eroding trust in the criminal justice system.”