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With prosecutors’ authority to directly conduct supplementary investigations set to be abolished in October, the role of the police as the “primary investigative agency” will become even greater. However, as the revised Criminal Procedure Act takes effect, the time limit for completing supplementary investigations will also be shortened from the current three months to, in principle, one month, raising concerns over increased workloads for frontline investigators and the risk of inadequate investigations.

According to police and other sources on the 13th, the revised Criminal Procedure Act is centered on abolishing prosecutors’ direct investigative authority and consolidating responsibility for investigations under judicial police officers. As a result, prosecutors will no longer be able to directly conduct supplementary investigations into cases referred by police and will instead have to request that police carry out additional investigative work when necessary.

The deadline for police to complete supplementary investigations will also be significantly shortened. Under the current Rules on Investigation, enacted by presidential decree, supplementary investigations must be completed within three months of receiving a request. The revised Criminal Procedure Act, however, requires such requests to be carried out within one month in principle. Where there are “reasonable grounds,” police may apply for an extension, or prosecutors may grant an extension on their own authority, for up to an additional month.

The change is intended to prevent delays caused by prolonged supplementary investigations and provide victims with more timely relief. However, with the revised Criminal Procedure Act approaching implementation, a series of controversies surrounding the fairness and thoroughness of police investigations has fueled growing concerns.

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Experts have also warned that shortening the deadline for supplementary investigations could undermine the thoroughness and completeness of investigations.

Chon Hyeong Hwan, a former police officer and now an attorney at MegaX Law Office, said, “When investigators are pressed for time, it can not only disrupt investigations into other ongoing cases, but also create a very real possibility that cases will be sent back after only perfunctory work has been done, or without necessary investigative steps being completed.”

“We also cannot rule out cases in which insufficient investigative capacity prevents the supplementary investigation itself from being properly carried out,” he added.

Chon also expressed concern over the abolition of prosecutors’ authority to directly conduct supplementary investigations. His concern is that when there are problems with the initial police investigation, it may be difficult to correct those problems simply by assigning the supplementary investigation back to the police.

“It is structurally difficult to expect errors to be corrected by handing the same case records back to the very institution that created an already compromised investigative record in the first place,” Chon said.