Hong Joon-pyo: Abolishing Prosecution's Investigation Rights Would Create 'Criminal's Paradise'

Hong Joon-pyo, former mayor of Daegu, has expressed strong concerns over the potential abolition of the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights, warning it could lead to a "criminal's paradise" in South Korea. He stated on his social media that the current proposals, which aim to separate investigation and prosecution powers, lack legal experts within proposed bodies like the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency or the National Investigation Agency.

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If the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights are abolished, Korea will become a criminal's paradise.

Hong argued that these new bodies would lack the capacity to handle large-scale or sophisticated crimes. He highlighted a critical flaw: if prosecutors receive cases but lack the authority for supplementary investigations, they would be forced to release suspects without charges, leading to an era of widespread crime. This, he believes, would undermine public safety and create an environment where criminals thrive.

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If the prosecution, to which cases are transferred, does not have supplementary investigation rights, a situation will arise where they have no choice but to release suspects without charges.

The former mayor criticized the reforms, suggesting they are a political retaliation against the prosecution rather than genuine progress. He asserted that abandoning the fundamental duty of protecting citizens from criminals, even in the name of reform, constitutes a "malicious change" rather than an improvement. Hong urged the government to at least preserve the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights as a minimal measure for public safety, warning that excessive reforms could backfire and harm the public.

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Even if the prosecution is abolished by separating investigation and prosecution as retaliation against the political prosecution, if the rulers abandon even the duty to protect the people from criminals, it is not reform but malicious change.