Prosecution, police agree on criminal law procedure revision

(ATTN: REVISES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout with more details, comments; minor edits)
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- The prosecution and police reached a last-minute compromise Monday to end a dispute over investigative rights, agreeing to empower police to open investigations on their own under the broad supervision of prosecutors.
Justice Minister Lee Kwi-nam and National Police Agency chief Cho Hyun-oh reached the agreement on revising the criminal procedure code in negotiations mediated by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee and other officials.
The agreement came after President Lee Myung-bak criticized both the prosecution and police last Friday for bickering over investigative rights.
"Both organizations reached an agreement as they negotiated with determination to solve this matter," Prime Minister Kim said at a press briefing.



The proposed revision calls for allowing police investigators to open and proceed with a criminal investigation on their own if there is sufficient suspicion of a crime, while allowing prosecutors to supervise the overall procedure.
Under the current law, prosecutors have the exclusive right to open an investigation.
Police have long tried to amend the law to obtain legal authority to begin probes because most criminal investigations are actually launched by police officers first and then sent to prosecutors for indictment.
Prosecutors, however, had stubbornly resisted such attempts, arguing that greater police power could raise risks of human rights infringement.
"This revision bill is not about adjusting the right to investigation, but it is aimed at providing legal grounds for the reality of investigations," a government official said.
The government will submit the proposal to a special parliamentary committee on judicial reform, set to open later Monday, and ask lawmakers to proceed with the revision of the law based on the agreement, officials noted.
For the bill to take effect, it needs parliamentary approval by majority vote.
ejkim@yna.co.kr