A flag bearing the emblem of the Prosecution Service flutters outside its headquarters in southern Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis
The ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is pushing through a bill that would strip prosecutors of their investigative authority, seeking an end to years of bruising “prosecution reform” battles and what many in the party view as a politicized, uncontrollable power at the heart of the justice system.
Under the new system, investigations and indictments would be split between new agencies, with one dedicated to investigations and the other to bringing charges and shepherding them through trial, effectively dismantling the Prosecutors’ Office's dual role, which was established in 1948.
Distrust rooted in trauma
Many outside observers find the governing party’s relentless campaign to weaken its own prosecutors puzzling, but for Korea’s liberals, the prosecution has come to embody a long history of politicized investigations.
