‘Korea’s criminal probe system ineffective’

Korea’s criminal investigation system has been evaluated as being ineffective by an American non-governmental organization.

The Rule of Law Index 2012, released Wednesday by the World Justice Project (WJP), an independent U.S.-based organization, showed that the effectiveness of Korea’s criminal investigation system was rated low while other justice systems were generally rated high.

In a sub-factor of the criminal justice category, Korea ranked 43rd among 97 surveyed countries when reviewed about whether its criminal investigation system is effective, obtaining 0.57 points from the full mark of 1.

The score was similar to 0.54 for Uganda, 0.55 for Egypt and Malawi, and 0.58 for Zimbabwe. It was also much lower than the 0.93 for Singapore, 0.91 for Denmark, 0.82 for Canada and 0.77 for China.

It said South Korea’s low effectiveness resulted from a long-running conflict between the police and the prosecution over investigation rights.

The two law enforcement bodies have been feuding for decades over the issue. The police have demanded the right to conduct probes independently without supervision by prosecutors, while the prosecution has taken measures to strengthen its supervisory role.

In a recent bribery case involving senior prosecutor Kim Kwang-joon, the police first began investigations but the prosecution set up its own probe, ordering the police to drop the case. The police refused the order, continuing their own investigation.

Despite the low score in effectiveness, Korea obtained high marks in other sub-factors, such as whether the criminal justice system is timely, impartial and free of corruption and government influence.

The WJP, founded in 2006 under the initiative of the American Bar Association, announces the index every year with the goal of advancing the rule of law worldwide.

Some categories of the index include limited government powers, absence of corruption, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and informal justice. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>