수사-기소의 분리와 검찰개혁

Separation of Investigation and Prosecution as a Reformative measure of the Korean Prosecution Service

This article discusses current controversial issues on how to reform Korean prosecution service. The reform of prosecutorial power has been a national agenda after it has been revealed that the corruption scandal of the former President Park Geun-hye was covered up by the Korean prosecution service. The Korean prosecutors has monopolized the investigation and prosecution power; Korean judicial police officers who are not legally able to end criminal cases on their own should send all the cases to the public prosecutor’s office; Korean judicial police officers must request search and seizure warrants only through prosecutors; judicial police officers are ordered by the public prosecutors to do what prosecutors think necessary. As a result, the concentrated prosecutorial power has led to human-rights abuse, corruption, and political prosecutors. This article, through a research on investigation-prosecution models, analyzes prosecutorial functions in England and Wales, the United States, Germany, and Japan. The results show that the Korean public prosecutors are endorsed too much investigation power which is checked by no other judicial authorities. Based on the research, this article, in a way to reform the Korean prosecution system, suggests that the public prosecutors should not investigate, and concentrate only on prosecutorial function. Finally, this article provides some recommendations on how to control investigation by judicial police officers.