Competition for investigations of emergency martial law

Prosecutors and police authorities are vying to investigate the Dec. 3 declaration of emergency martial law. With a special investigation team set up to deal with the emergency martial law case, the former conducted a sudden inspection of ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and immediately took him into custody with his mobile phone confiscated. Meanwhile, the latter dedicated 120 special investigators centering around the security investigation team under the National Office of Investigation of the National Police Agency to search and seize former Defense Minister Kim’s house, the official residence, and ministerial office and scrutinize his phone records with warrants issued.

As per the reform to the investigative authority of prosecutors and the police, the authority to look into treason charges under the Criminal Act has been transferred to the latter. Previously, the prosecution neglected its duty to investigate serious cases such as First Lady Kim Keon Hee’s allegations of stock manipulation of Deutsch Motors shares. By contrast, they stubbornly insist on investigating a treason case, which they claim involves the former minister’s abuse of power, which, in effect, makes them part of criminal investigations of “treason.” That is, the case is being investigated by the two different authorities at the same time.

To be sure, it may be desirable that the two authorities join forces to look into such a nationally grave case regardless of which party has such authority. In fact, the prosecution requested a joint investigation with the police. Having said that, the problem is what they really have in mind. It is no secret that the prosecution’s ulterior motive is to gain complete control of the investigation under the pretext of a “joint” investigation. The police said no to the other’s proposal.

Treason investigations will eventually target President Yoon Suk Yeol. Given that he served as former prosecutor general, prosecutorial investigations – whether harsh or lenient - could be easily misunderstood, which thus makes the police the more appropriate investigators. However, given that the police have relatively weaker investigative capabilities than the prosecution, they alone are unlikely to fully uncover the truth about treason charges. Therefore, they are supposed to collaborate with the prosecution on the condition that joint investigations are led by them with prosecutors playing a supporting role going forward.

Such collaborative investigations, however, can take place only when prosecutors, who have had the upper hand, are willing to give up control. If they refuse to accept the adjustment of investigative authority, they should refrain from competitively investigating the case in spite of their lack of investigative authority.