Challenge Criminal Law Reform


By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

The prosecution and presidential task force for the trial system reform reached an agreement on measures to modify the criminal investigation process that were proposed by the team by considerably accepting the prosecutors’ claims over their investigative power.

However, junior prosecutors criticized the decision, saying that the agreement has been drawn through discussions between the heads of the two sides without the juniors’ and public’s consensus, and that they would push for a junior prosecutors’ meeting to discuss the matter.

The presidential panel proposed the reform measure to pursue a ``court-oriented’’ criminal procedure and to improve the current investigation process, which was often denounced as non-transparent and oppressive. But prosecutors have opposed the measure, saying it would limit their investigative power and transfer it to the police.

On Tuesday night, Justice Minister Kim Seung-kyu and Hahn Seung-hun, head of the Presidential Committee on Judicial Reform, came to an agreement on the three main issues at hand.

The presidential panel accepted the prosecution’s claim on the questioning of the accused. Prosecutors will continue to be allowed to question the accused ahead of court trials, but only after the evidence has been retrieved. The committee had planned to bar the pre-trial interrogations completely.

Not only prosecutors but also judiciary police officers will be permitted to take the witness stand for prosecuting attorneys in case the accused denies the written statement that was made during the prosecution’s interrogation.

The committee will also recognize audio and videotapes as evidence under strict conditions, though it has yet come up with a final form of the clause. Its original reform measure planned to treat audio and video evidence as the same as written evidence, which is annulled if the accused denies it during a court hearing.

The presidential panel will send the draft criminal law reform to a working-level committee Friday. Two working-level discussions will be held on May 9 and May 16.

However, the disputes between the prosecution and the committee, which seemed to subside following Tuesday’s agreement, is rising again as junior prosecutors claim that the compromised measure is far less than their demands and that it was made without public consensus.

They demanded that the presidential committee reveal the draft of the criminal law reform and collect public opinions.

``We are not senselessly opposing the committee’s move. We want to have a discussion with the public about the full-scale reform of the criminal law, including plea bargaining and a criterion of sentencing, which are essential to the people’s participation in judiciary proceedings,’’ Koo Tae-un, representative of junior prosecutors, said.

About 40 senior prosecutors also had a meeting and decided to voice their opinion against the reform measures to Prosecutor General Kim Jong-bin soon.

Lawyers’ groups have showed mixed opinions on the moves.

``The protests from junior prosecutors can be seen as disobedience against the prosecution leaders or as group selfishness. The presidential committee can lose its ground of existence,’’ said Chang Chu-young, secretary general of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, a reform-minded lawyers’ group.

But Lee Seog-yeon, a lawyer who often works on behalf of civic causes, said, ``It is hard to say the committee’s measures have created sufficient public consensus. The junior prosecutors’ move pointed out the committee’s haste on the issue.’’

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr