It was confirmed that a first-time prosecutor was being inspected by saying things such as "they are worse than the suspects" to the investigators.
In early December of last year, Prosecutor A of the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office joined the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office at a dinner party.
Prosecutor A, who was intoxicated at the time, is known to have told the investigators present, "They are worse than the suspects I'm investigating" and "You are working in a place worse than public service personnel."
Investigators present said they could not hide their embarrassment.
According to the prosecution, Prosecutor A is known to have realized his mistake the next day and personally apologized to his parties.
However, rumors spread to prosecutors' offices across the country, and related articles were posted on Blind, an anonymous community app for office workers.
Among them, more than 100 comments were posted on the post, 'Am I the only one pissed off that the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office insulted the chief investigators at a drinking party?'
"Is there one or two people like that?" "I feel humiliated" and so on.
Among front-line investigators, a reaction came out saying, "Even if it was said drunk, it was too much."
The Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office launched an inspection of Prosecutor A.
An official from the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office said that the investigation process is currently underway.
Prosecutor A was assigned to another branch office in the personnel evaluation announced on the 27th.
The prosecutor is 'Batman' and the investigator is 'Robin'...
Although not known to the outside world, inside the prosecution, this news became a hot topic for a while among prosecutors across the country, especially among investigators.
It is intended to show the distorted perception of some prosecutors toward investigators, even if it is a very small number of cases and the words came out while intoxicated.
In the prosecution, the investigator is more like a supporting character who works silently.
As of January this year, there are a total of 2,138 prosecutors and 6,144 investigators in Korea.
In movies and dramas, prosecutors are usually the main characters, and investigators do not appear often, but in reality, investigators are in charge of many practical tasks of investigation.
The scope is also wide, such as arresting suspects, tracking accounts, forensics, and search and seizure.
The position as a judicial police official is also specified in the law.
In the legal world, the relationship between prosecutors and investigators is often compared to 'Batman' and 'Robin'.
That's why it's such an important partner.
In the prosecution, it is often said that to become a competent prosecutor, you must have an 'investigator's uniform'.
It is the prosecutor's job to draw and direct the big picture of an investigation, but sometimes investigators make a decisive contribution to the success or failure of an investigation.
The investigator who found 'Jeong Yu-ra'... decisive contribution to the investigation
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One of the most well-known anecdotes is the case in which an investigator found 'Jung Yu-ra's horse', a decisive material evidence, during the 2017 'Special Prosecution for Gukjeong Nongdan'.
When the court rejected the arrest warrant for Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics (then vice chairman at the time), who was charged with paying 43 billion won in bribes to former President Park Geun-hye, an emergency was raised within the special prosecution.
According to officials from the Special Prosecution Team at the time, an investigator said, "Let's check the e-mail history of secretary Choi Seo-won (former Choi Soon-sil)," and as a result, details of Samsung buying Choi's daughter Jeong Yu-ra were found. .
It was an opportunity to revive the investigative power that could have been shaken.
Afterwards, the words that Samsung supported to Jung Yoo-ra were finally recognized as 'bribe' by the Supreme Court.
There is also an anecdote that when the special prosecutor's investigation was finished, prosecutors belonging to the special prosecutor's team visited the investigator and expressed their gratitude.
Investigator Lee is currently working in the Office of the Secretary to the President for Public Service Discipline.
There are also several stories about catching key suspects through 'undercover investigations' known as the exclusive property of homicide detectives.
This is an anecdote that occurred at the end of 2021 during the investigation into the suspicion of Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation.
At the time, one of the main suspects disappeared, but through communication tracking, an officetel was identified as a hiding place.
The problem is that hundreds of households were living in the officetel alone.
Unable to press the bell individually, the investigators went undercover.
The suspect appeared a few weeks later in December of that year, the day after Deutsche Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo and others were arrested and indicted on charges of stock price manipulation (4th).
Maybe he thought it was over, but the investigators quietly followed him as he walked out of the house and entered a tuna restaurant.
Perhaps it was the 'last consideration' for the suspect, and an investigator who had been waiting until he had finished his meal approached the suspect.
"Let's go."
It is said that there was no resistance.
"Only a few cases"... "It's bittersweet" reaction
Of course, the prosecution's assessment is that it is difficult to generalize the case of prosecutor A.
The atmosphere of the prosecution has changed a lot, so most prosecutors say that it is rare to see a prosecutor who treats investigators badly or talks badly these days.
A mid-level prosecutor said that the case of Prosecutor A was "extremely a small number of cases and close to a happening" and that "there is a more atmosphere of respecting and cooperating with the investigator as a partner."
Nevertheless, it is worth looking back once this incident became a hot topic within the prosecution for a while and a comment was made on a blind post related to the case, saying, “Is there one or two such people?”
Inside and outside the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office, there is also a story of being embarrassed by the words to the effect of defending, saying, "It is so so because the first prosecutor made a mistake."
A prosecution investigator with more than 20 years of experience said, "Both prosecutors and investigators are mostly people who work with a sense of duty in their work. .