"Prohibition of Case Inquiries" to Be Codified in National Police Agency Order

Aiming to Ensure Fairness in Investigations
by Prohibiting Case Requests and Related Practices

The police will expand the prohibition system on inquiring about cases in order to strengthen the fairness of investigations.

On August 20, the National Police Agency held the third meeting of its task force for follow-up measures on the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Act and decided to formalize the case inquiry prohibition system—which had previously been enforced as an internal guideline—by stipulating it in the Code of Conduct for Officials of the National Police Agency (an official police directive).

Seodaemun-gu Police Agency, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Accordingly, employees of the National Police Agency will be prohibited from inquiring about cases, and investigators who receive such inquiries will now be newly obligated to report them to their department’s Office for Civil Rights and Audit. The agency also plans to establish new disciplinary standards (detailed enforcement rules of the disciplinary regulations for police officials), allowing disciplinary action against National Police Agency employees solely for making case inquiries.

In addition, the subjects of the case inquiry prohibition and reporting obligations will be expanded from “between employees” to include external parties, such as attorneys who have not submitted a power of attorney and administrative clerks (“officemen”). The agency intends not only to impose disciplinary action on investigators who fail to report such inquiries, but also to consider the application of laws such as the Anti-Graft Act to external parties who make case inquiries, depending on the specific details, in order to eliminate such practices.

The strengthened system is scheduled to be implemented in October, following on-site guidance and the revision of the relevant directive next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.