경찰 등 수사기관 간 관계정립 및 민주적 통제를 위한 국가수사위원회 신설 검토* - 장경태 의원 대표 발의 법안을 중심으로

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the institutional and procedural challenges surrounding the establishment of a National Investigation Commission in the context of increasingly diversified investigative powers, and to propose potential avenues for reform. The ongoing reform of the prosecution service is expected to result in a proliferation of investigative bodies, thereby heightening the likelihood of procedural conflicts and jurisdictional disputes. A notable example can be found in the competition for investigative authority between the prosecution, the police, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials during the investigation of the December 3rd Rebellion. Such developments underscore the necessity of creating a National Investigation Commission as a centralized body tasked with defining, coordinating, and regulating the relationships among multiple investigative agencies. This need becomes even more pronounced in light of current prosecutorial reform efforts, which envisage dismantling the prosecution service and instituting a complete separation between investigative and prosecutorial functions. Given that the prosecution has historically exercised de facto control over investigative procedures within South Korea’s criminal justice system, its dissolution would leave no institutional mechanism to oversee or restrain the activities of investigative agencies. In the absence of a National Investigation Commission, these agencies would operate in a sphere largely devoid of meaningful oversight, particularly in the post-reform era of separated investigative and prosecutorial functions.