South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (C) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, South Korea, 04 August 2026. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
Aug. 4 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's Cabinet approved a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act on Tuesday that will eliminate prosecutors' authority to conduct criminal investigations, fundamentally restructuring the country's criminal justice system 72 years after the law was enacted in 1954.
President Lee Jae Myung approved the bill during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae despite calls from critics for him to veto the legislation.
"There have been considerable disputes and disagreements, but it is difficult to conclude that this bill presents problems serious enough to reject the National Assembly's legislative authority, such as being unconstitutional, impossible to enforce, contrary to the national interest or an infringement on the executive branch's inherent powers," Lee said.
Lee described the separation of investigation and prosecution as "the first step toward normalizing an abnormal system" and a starting point for broader reform of the justice system.
