Murder case shows why prosecutors' supplementary investigations matter

An incident in the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City clearly demonstrates why prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority should not be abolished.

Police investigated the May 5 stabbing death of a high school girl in the southwestern metropolitan city by suspect Jang Yoon-gi, who had no prior acquaintance with the victim, and referred the case to prosecutors. However, the police's handling of the investigation, as revealed by prosecutors' supplementary investigation, is shocking.

It was revealed that the police investigation team gave Jang's father — an incumbent senior officer at a police station in Jeonnam-Gwangju — the address of his son's rented room and the access code to the front door. He entered his son's room, removed and disposed of a sex doll that could have served as evidence that the murder was also sexually motivated, and burned his son's mobile phone. In effect, the investigation team helped destroy evidence.

According to reports, Jang’s father last served at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, which investigated the case.

In addition, the police team leader is suspected of leaking confidential information about the progress of the investigation to Jang's father through dozens of phone conversations.

Furthermore, the team leader found a cable tie in Jang's car, which could have been used to restrain the victim, but did not seize it as evidence. Prosecutors later found the cable tie that had gone missing from Jang's car at the home of Jang's father. Jang's father had taken the car.

The National Police Agency arrested the investigation team leader on charges of destroying evidence and sought a warrant for his detention.

The police referred the case to prosecutors on a charge of murder, which carries a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment. However, after uncovering the destruction of evidence through a supplementary investigation, prosecutors concluded that the killing had been premeditated and committed with the intent of raping the victim beforehand, and indicted Jang on a charge of murder committed with the intent to rape, an offense punishable only by life imprisonment or the death penalty.

The Democratic Party of Korea, which has rammed through legislation stripping prosecutors of their investigative powers and transferring them to the police, is now seeking to abolish even prosecutors' authority to conduct supplementary investigations.

President Lee Jae Myung once argued that supplementary investigations were necessary, but later backed away from that position. Instead, he left the issue to the National Assembly dominated by the ruling party.

Jung Chung-rae and Kim Min-seok, the two leading contenders in the ruling party's leadership race, both support abolishing the authority altogether. They have been criticized for pandering to hardline party members who are calling for the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigations.

The criminal justice system should be founded on thoroughly uncovering the truth in every case so that no one suffers an injustice. Yet it seems that very principle is being sacrificed in the pursuit of ruling party leadership.

The reason prosecutors need the authority to conduct supplementary investigations is not that they are more ethical than the police or necessarily better at conducting investigations. Only when police investigations are subject to scrutiny by an independent body such as the prosecution can flaws in those investigations be uncovered.

If the police are given sole authority to conclude investigations in all cases without any external oversight, they could cover up cases or destroy evidence and never be found out.

Under the law pushed through by the Democratic Party, the Prosecution Service will be dismantled on Oct. 2. Under the new system, investigations will be conducted by the police, while prosecutors will be responsible for prosecuting cases.

If prosecutors are forced to rely solely on police investigations, limited to bringing prosecutions, and barred from conducting supplementary investigations, the harm to the public is all but inevitable.

As the ruling party revises the Criminal Procedure Act, it must either preserve prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority or postpone the abolition of the Prosecution Service for a considerable period until alternative safeguards have been established.


khnews@heraldcorp.com