국민의 공수처 VS 검찰의 수사처

Abstract

Absolute majority of Koreans hope to introduce the Corruption Investigation Office(CIO) into Korean justice system. The People believe that CIO’s creation will reduce Korean Prosecution Service(KPS)’s power and bring checks and balances mechanism between KPS and CIO. Following the public opinion, the Committee for Reformation of the Ministry of Justice and Prosecution Service have recently come up with a draft for the Statute of the CIO. The Committee suggested the CIO should have enough power to investigate and prosecute high ranking government officers' corruption and to compete with the KPS, but should not be overinfluenced by the President, keeping political neutrality. The Committee's draft provides that other investing agencies like the Police and KPS shall without undue delay report to the CIO any criminal conduct in respect of which the CIO could exercise its competence. Accoridng to the committee's draft, the CIO can request the other investigating agencies to transfer the case under the competence of the CIO. However, the Ministry of Justice announced their own draft according to which the other agencies have no duty to report the case to the CIO under its jurisdiction. The draft team of the Ministry of Justice consists only of prosecutors. Prosecutors have objected to establishing the CIO for a long time. The author thinks that the parliament should pass the Statute of CIO based on the Committee's draft.