33.5% of Fraud Cases Exceed Six Months; Sexual Offense Indictments Often Take Two Years
Mr. A, in his 60s, filed a complaint last August with a local police station against Mr. B, a soldier in his 20s, accusing him of having a sexual relationship with his 12-year-old nephew. However, three months have passed without any police investigation into Mr. B. Records showing Mr. B lured the nephew through Instagram were found on the nephew’s phone and submitted to the police. Yet, the police did not secure Mr. B’s phone. They also did not apply for a bench warrant, citing no risk of flight as Mr. B was on active military duty. Mr. A said, “Our entire family is at our wits’ end,” adding, “We’ve waited so long for the police investigation that we’re on the verge of collapse.”
Ms. Lee, 68, filed a complaint in October 2022 with a Seoul police station, alleging that a blue-and-white porcelain vase she purchased through a domestic art auction company was a Chinese forgery. However, in January of the following year, she received a notice that the case would be closed without being sent to prosecutors. Although prosecutors requested supplementary investigations, the case remained unresolved for over a year. After Ms. Lee appealed to the police station’s public complaint office, the investigation team was changed. However, according to her, no progress has been made since a single confrontation investigation in February of last year.
A Board of Audit and Inspection audit confirmed that “police delays in investigations” have become a reality following the adjustment of investigative powers between prosecutors and police. In 2021, the Moon Jae-in government and the Democratic Party of Korea pushed through the adjustment of investigative powers. Most criminal investigations were delegated to the police, who were also granted the authority to close cases. Prosecutors can request reinvestigation or supplementary investigation only for cases the police have closed as no-crime or referred for prosecution.
According to the Korean National Police Agency’s regular audit report released by the Board of Audit and Inspection on the 10th, the average processing time for cases registered by the police increased from 59.7 days in 2020 to 63.9 days last year, a rise of 4.2 days. Cases taking over six months to resolve rose from 6.3% in 2020 to 9.8% last year. For intelligent crimes, including fraud, over a third (33.5%) took more than six months. Following the adjustment of investigative powers, the number of cases handled by the police surged from 1,977,779 in 2021 to 2,645,534 last year, a 33.8% increase.
The Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that these statistics do not fully reflect the reality of police delays. For example, periods spent on supplementary investigations requested by prosecutors are excluded from the data. In response, the Korean National Police Agency stated, “Reinvestigations or supplementary investigations requested by prosecutors are separate procedures and should not be counted as part of the police’s case processing time.”
◇ Lawyers: “Even Simple Cases Take 3 Months to Begin Investigation”
The Board of Audit and Inspection also analyzed 128,785 cases handled by the police last year following requests for reinvestigation or supplementary investigation from prosecutors. These cases took an average of 84.7 days to process. Considering that the police take an average of 56.2 days to initially process a case (including non-registration), the total processing time in such cases reached an average of 140.9 days.
Lawyers representing victims in criminal cases said, “Delays in police investigations have become routine since the adjustment of investigative powers.” Noh Jong-eon, representative lawyer at the law firm “Existence,” stated, “For civil crimes like fraud, sexual offenses, insult, and defamation, it takes about six months for the police to refer cases to prosecutors. If prosecutors request supplementary investigation, it often takes over two years to reach indictment. Paradoxically, the more prosecutors instruct supplementary investigation due to high likelihood of conviction, the slower the investigation becomes.” Ahn Sung-hoon, a lawyer at the law firm Beobseung, added, “Previously, complainant investigations were completed within a month, and initial suspect investigations within 1-3 months. Now, even simple cases often take three months just to begin investigation.”
To reduce cases where criminals go unpunished due to police closure, each police station has assigned “investigation reviewers” to re-examine closed cases. However, a review of 794,226 closed cases from 2022-2023 by provincial police agencies found defects in the closure of 18,949 cases (2.4%).
In some instances, provincial police agencies’ review directives were not implemented. From 2022-2023, provincial agencies ordered reinvestigation of 13 murder, robbery, theft, and violence cases closed by local stations, but four were not reinvestigated. Two were due to the provincial agency’s failure to send the directive, and two because the investigating department did not check the received document.
◇ Police: “Inputting Complaints and Reports Takes 2 Hours Daily”
A Board of Audit and Inspection official explained, “These issues arise because police officers have to handle too many cases.” Investigation division chiefs said, “With the overwhelming number of cases, over 30% of investigation team members work every weekend.” It was reported that a police station in Seoul’s Gangnam area receives between 100 and 180 complaints and reports daily. One investigator said, “Every morning, complaints, reports, and petitions pile up to 65 cm on my desk. It takes over two hours just to sort and input them into the system. Complainants pressure us, ‘Why isn’t my case processed?’ and superiors demand faster investigations, so investigators are criticized from all sides.”
The Board of Audit and Inspection did not criticize the adjustment of investigative powers itself, as its principle is not to evaluate the correctness of government policies. Instead, it advised the Korean National Police Agency to compile statistics on the total time from initial receipt to final resolution for cases subject to prosecutors’ reinvestigation or supplementary investigation requests, to help devise measures against delays. In response, the Korean National Police Agency stated, “We are making multifaceted efforts to prevent delays in case processing.”
