South Korea’s Serious Crimes Investigation Agency to launch in October with 2,874 personnel

Seoul, Aug 18 (IANS) A new agency dedicated to investigating major crimes will have 2,874 personnel when it launches in October as part of a sweeping reform that strips prosecutors of their independent and supplementary investigative powers, South Korea’s interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said implementing decrees detailing the operational standards and organisational structure of the tentatively named Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA) were approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

The new agency will investigate seven categories of major crimes — corruption, economic crimes, defence acquisition, drug offences, crimes against state security, such as insurrection and foreign aggression, cybercrimes and offences involving the distortion of the law.

It will have a total of 2,874 personnel, including 2,567 investigators and 307 general-service employees.

The SCIA will have six regional offices nationwide, each with dedicated and specialised investigative units tailored to the characteristics of the region, reports Yonhap news agency.

For instance, the Seoul regional office will have a joint investigation division handling voice phishing, financial crimes and virtual asset crimes, while the Suwon regional office will have dedicated divisions for defence industry and industry technology crimes, and drug offences.

The Daejeon and Busan regional offices will have dedicated divisions for state financial crimes and international economic crimes, respectively.

Organisations responsible for supplementary investigations requested by prosecutors will include the special investigation divisions or teams for crimes against socially vulnerable groups to be established at the SCIA headquarters and all regional offices.

Other investigative agencies will be required to notify the SCIA when they become aware of a major crime, while an investigation review procedure will allow external experts to assess the legality and appropriateness of the SCIA’s investigations.

The candidate recommendation committee for the SCIA chief will recommend three or more candidates from among those who pass a qualification review, while individuals, institutions and organisations will be allowed to participate in the recommendation process, the interior ministry said.

Prosecutors and prosecution investigators can transfer to the SCIA without taking an exam, the ministry added.

–IANS

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