경찰수사와 정보공개 - 수사서류 비공개의 요건과 한계 -

Abstract

This Article analyzes the legal regime governing public access to criminalinvestigation records under the Korean Official Information Disclosure Act(the “Act”) and, in order to preserve the Act’s essential purpose, argues forthe need to strictly control the discretion pursuant to which such public recordsrequests may be denied. By tracing the development of the Act and examiningrelevant case law, this Article explains the legal process for ensuring thepublic’s “right to know” about certain information and records held by governmentagencies in the Republic of Korea, including the Korean National Police Agency(“KNPA”). After providing a detailed overview of the types of agency recordssubject to disclosure under the Act and its mandatory disclosure procedures,this Article critically examines the eight exemptions to disclosure under theAct. Applying these statutory exemptions to information requests made tothe KNPA, it contends that the KNPA can lawfully refuse to disclose unreleasedinformation or records that contain (1) information that is exempt from disclosureunder certain other laws, (2) personnel information, or (3) certain law enforcementrecords or information. It concludes, however, that in the process of administeringthis legal regime, if the scope of information not subject to disclosure is toobroadly defined, it will be difficult to achieve the purposes of the Act, whichis to ensure the peoples’ right to know.