Justice Ministry Proposes Korean ‘FBI’

The Ministry of Justice is reviewing plans to set up a special investigation agency that would compile and manage data from the special police inspection department, the investigative arm of the local police agency, and the National Intelligence Service.

The agency would be the nation’s equivalent of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and part of Justice Minister Cheon Jung-bae’s reform initiative for Korea’s investigative system.

Under the plan, the special agency will mainly focus its investigation on socio-systemic problems such as political corruption, public official bribery cases, illegal collusion between government and businesses, and misappropriation and embezzlement by executives of large conglomerates.

The agency is expected to integrate its work with that of the police and prosecutors and cooperate with them in the inspection process.

The Justice Ministry believes that the agency would clear the debate over the establishment of an agency dedicated to fighting corruption in public officialdom. The proposed agency would be able to investigate those matters instead of turning to an independent agency.

The prosecutor’s office is expected to adjust its status and role by passing special investigations over to the proposed agency and to focus on the maintenance of legal action and general criminal cases. The police will be mainly in charge of maintaining public order regarding traffic and safety, while leaving inspections into special and local cases to the proposed agency.

The Justice Ministry will reportedly hold a public debate on the subject of a new investigative agency.

“We should discuss reform of the national inspection system that is more fundamental and important than the adjustment of investigative rights of prosecutors and police officers,” Minister Cheon said in an interview last month.

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com