Prosecution reform has been a hot topic for a long time.
Even within the prosecution, no one denied the need for reform and its cause.
The direction of the reform was the abolition or reduction of the direct investigation, the so-called special investigation.
This was because, if the investigative subject even decides whether to prosecute, excessive investigations, targeted investigations, and so-called dusty investigations may be conducted.
There was concern that confirmation bias could work.
However, there was a premise.
If the authority of the Dinosaur Prosecutor's Office, which holds the investigative and prosecuting powers in both hands, was dispersed and transferred to another place, there was a fear that the agency that would take over the authority would also become a 'dinosaur'.
For this reason, there was a premise that the prosecution's investigation command power should be maintained or strengthened as a judicial control device for the institution.
The idea was to make the prosecution a human rights advocacy agency, not an investigative agency.
A 'general' prosecutorial reform plan whose main goal was 'abolition of direct investigation and strengthening of investigation command'
In the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, many expected that the current government would go down this 'normal' prosecution reform path.
Few people doubted that the direction of the current administration's prosecutorial reform would be abolition or reduction of special investigations by the prosecution, as key members of the Moon Jae-in administration believed that they lost the late Roh Moo-hyun to the prosecution's political special investigation.
However, as is well known, the expectation was wrong.
"Acknowledging the direct investigation of the prosecution only for special investigations that the prosecution has already done well" (announced the 'reform plan for power institutions' at the time of the Blue House at the time of the Homeland on January 14, 2018)
was proposed as a reform plan for the prosecution.
The 'investigation command', which was referred to as a judicial control device for the police, was completely abolished.
In the background of this sudden change, there was an investigation into corruption, which was a strong support for the high support for state management in the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration.
The Moon Jae-in administration, realizing the effectiveness of the special investigation by the prosecution, has greatly increased the size of the special division of the prosecution, and has newly established the position of the 4th deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which had been evaluated as huge in the past.
The Moon Jae-in administration, which raised the special prosecutor's department
Since then, it has been clear that he has been working on the special division prosecutors.
Ironically, it was the Moon Jae-in administration that ushered in an era of special communication by forwardly deploying special forces prosecutors where the so-called planning and public security officials used to go.
In the legal circle, it is also evaluated that if the planning and public security officers had been dispersedly assigned to key positions in the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, the investigation into former Justice Minister Cho Kuk would have been quite different from what it is now.
(Reference article: Yoon Seok-yeol's first appointment to the prosecution...the reason why there are so many gossips) In the
early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, the special prosecutors laughed quietly and the prosecutors of the criminal department who said they were going to strengthen it were criticized by the strange situation.
As we saw earlier, it was the result of the government's explicit recognition of the special investigation that was expected to be reduced or abolished.
Prosecutors in the criminal department pointed out the problems that the abolition of the police's investigation command would cause.
Under this circumstance, Prosecutor General Special Tong called for a 'general' prosecutorial reform plan that should strengthen the investigation command of the police instead of reducing or even abolishing the special investigation.
In order to maintain the total number of investigations, it was also proposed to create a separate investigation agency that directly investigates individual crimes, such as the Financial Crimes Special Investigation Agency and the Drug Crimes Special Investigation Agency.
(Reference article: 'Reducing the Special Prosecutor's Office' was wrong then, right now?)
Reduced direct investigation and strengthened investigation command
An unusual situation arose in which the prosecution, especially the progressive lawyers who had an objection to the prosecution's direct investigation, responded to the prosecution's claim.
However, the prosecutor general's claim was dismissed as a protest against the reform of the prosecution, and the proposal to adjust the prosecutor's and police investigation authority proceeded in the direction suggested by Cho Kuk, former chief of civil affairs at the Blue House in January 2018.
The Supreme Prosecutor's Office's 'Human Rights Investigation Advisor', which was created as an internal control device for the prosecution's direct investigation, was created in this government and then disappeared again.
It is, of course, the influence of the homeland situation that the Moon Jae-in administration's prosecution reform plan, which explicitly guaranteed special investigations, was rushed to the point of complete deprivation of the prosecution's investigative powers.
In the first half of the Moon Jae-in administration, the prosecution reform plan was centered on the adjustment of the prosecutor's and police investigation authority, but after the fatherland crisis, the prosecution reform plan changed to prioritize the establishment of a public prosecutor's office.
There was a reason that it was a check-in device against the prosecution, but the general evaluation was that it was to deprive the prosecution of the authority to investigate high-ranking public officials, such as the Minister of Justice.
A blueprint different from the 'general' prosecutorial reform plan that abolished the police's investigative authority and guaranteed special investigations by the prosecution.
It has been about a year since the Moon Jae-in government built a house with the blueprint and moved in the people.
Lawyers at the forefront are evaluating that it is the people living in the new house who are suffering damage due to delays in investigations, etc.
A house called the Coordination of Police Investigation Authority built with the wrong design
In the meantime, prosecutors in the criminal department have changed to a relatively well-being profession.
As a result, the workload is reduced.
“In the current system, if a prosecutor requests a supplementary investigation from the police, the case is counted as handled,” said a lawyer from the prosecutor’s office. .
Cases transferred after the supplementary investigation are newly assigned to prosecutors, and cases may be assigned to prosecutors other than those in charge of the previous work.
The continuity of event processing is broken.
(Reference article: 'Adjustment of Investigation Power' and 'Strengthening of the Criminal Department' are compatible?) It is
the people who feel uncomfortable as prosecutors who receive the people's tax become more comfortable.
If it's normal, it's common to make up for leaks and take measures to make the house that's currently built as safe and strong as possible while doing repairs.
In the future, it is also necessary to find a fundamental way to relocate the people by making repairs or building new houses based on the principled blueprint of 'abolition of direct investigation and strengthening of investigation command'.
Democrats' scrutiny to start with demolition before relocation measures are prepared
However, the Democratic Party is now insisting that we start with demolition before preparing relocation measures.
If the house is demolished, it will be impossible to carry out a supplementary investigation after sending it to the prosecution, which had been limited.
Is this plan of the Democratic Party for the people currently living in the house?
Democrats' remarks about 'evaporating the investigation', 'I will protect President Moon Jae-in and adviser Lee Jae-myung', and 'Does the (prosecutor's) think it is appropriate to investigate President Moon?' doubts whether it is for
I agree with the Democratic Party's argument that the prosecution's investigative powers and prosecution powers should be separated.
However, sympathy for the claim is only when the 'ultimately' clue is premised.
When measures are prepared to maintain the total amount of investigation rather than evaporating investigations, when judicial control over investigative agencies is firmly guaranteed, when direct investigations are not abolished for those in power, but for the general public, the investigation function of the state is swift and This is an argument that can be agreed upon when it is guaranteed that it can work correctly.
In this respect, it is difficult to agree with some of the prosecution's claims that direct investigation by the prosecution is essential.
The more urgent it is, the more it is necessary to return to principle.
It is necessary to discuss a method of reforming the prosecution that goes back to principle to restore and strengthen the 'investigation command', rather than a method of reforming the prosecution that evaporates the investigation and starts with demolition.