Democratic Party's Kim Min-seok: "We will root out the six major evils of the police"

Protecting their own and concealing cases
Proposes strengthening external audits and recusal
Draws a line on the controversy over supplementary investigation rights
Kim Min-seok, representative of the Democratic Party, stated that he will "accelerate police reform" and root out the "six major evils" of police investigations, such as protecting their own, concealing cases, and unauthorized closures. The photo shows Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party, speaking at the first meeting of the Grand Unification Promotion Task Force held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 25th. / Photo=Newsis
Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party, stated that he will "accelerate police reform" and root out the "six major evils" of police investigations, such as protecting their own, concealing cases, and unauthorized closures. As an expansion of police authority is expected due to prosecution reform, and following successive controversies over poor police investigations—such as the Gwangju Jang Yun-gi case and the Jeju Jang Mi-ran case—he intends to move forward with institutional reforms to prevent the abuse of investigative powers and strengthen police control.
However, Kim emphasized, "The false closure of the Jeju missing person case occurred while the prosecution's (prosecutors') supplementary investigation rights were currently in operation." This is interpreted as drawing a line against arguments that the prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights should be maintained based on the controversy over poor police investigations.
On the morning of the 26th, during a field supreme council meeting held at the Democratic Party's Gyeongbuk Provincial Office in Andong, Gyeongbuk, Kim said, "I believe the public and the President are of one mind in recognizing that police reform is very important right now and raising issues," adding, "The Democratic Party will take charge of this."
Previously, on the 25th, President Lee Jae-myung instructed the Prime Minister's Office to prepare police reform measures, saying, "I hope you will consider how to reform the police and think about police reform institutions in the future." President Lee added, "The police will likely exercise the greatest power among national institutions in the future. Accordingly, there is great concern among our citizens. This is because doubts arise as to whether they can sufficiently fulfill the responsibilities that come with such great authority."
With the recent emergence of the Jeju Jang Mi-ran case following the Gwangju Jang Yun-gi case, public distrust in police investigations is growing. In particular, as the controversy over poor police investigations intersects with the issue of abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights, the debate over the appropriateness of the direction of prosecution reform, which centers on the abolition of these rights, is resurfacing.
In fact, it was found that half of the public evaluates the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation rights negatively. According to a public opinion poll released on the 14th by Gallup Korea, conducted from the 11th to the 13th among 1,000 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, 50% of respondents answered that the abolition of supplementary investigation rights was 'wrong.' Only 27% responded that it was a 'good thing,' while 23% remained undecided. This survey was conducted via telephone interviews using randomly selected wireless virtual numbers, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 9.7%.
As if conscious of these concerns, Kim said, "The false closure of the Jeju missing person case is causing public outrage, but contrary to some claims, it occurred while the prosecution's (prosecutors') supplementary investigation rights were in operation." He argued that since poor police investigations occurred even under the current system where prosecutors have supplementary investigation rights, the existence of these rights and police reform are separate issues.
He identified the 'six major evils' of police investigations as: ▲Protecting their own ▲Concealing cases ▲Unauthorized closure ▲Concealment or manipulation of evidence ▲Leakage of investigative information ▲Infringement of personal information. As specific reform measures, he proposed: ▲Expansion of external audits ▲Strengthening grounds for investigation recusal ▲Strengthening the duty to explain to victims ▲Strengthening legal responsibility for illegal or poor investigations.
Kim emphasized, "We must also more firmly establish command, supervision, and accountability according to the chain of command. We will protect investigations that protect the people and resolutely reform investigative powers that infringe upon the rights and interests of the people." He continued, "Under the principle of popular sovereignty, we will strengthen democratic control over both the prosecution and the police." This is a plan to simultaneously strengthen external control and accountability for institutions holding investigative powers.
The Democratic Party launched a police reform task force yesterday and appointed Representative Kim Nam-hee (Gyeonggi Gwangmyeong-si Eul) as the head. Representative Lee Hae-sik (Seoul Gangdong-gu Eul), a member of the Public Administration and Security Committee, will also participate in the task force. Regarding the selection of Representative Kim as head, Kim said, "It is a breakthrough appointment of a first-term lawmaker who has a wide rapport with victims of poor investigations and women in their 20s and 30s."
Kim also stated that he has raised the need for police reform since his time serving as Prime Minister. He said, "When prosecution reform was underway during my time as Prime Minister, I thought police reform was also a very important issue and requested the preparation of police reform plans quite early. Seeing that the progress and content have not advanced well since then, I felt a strong sense of the problem."