A self-employed person in their 50s, identified only as A, lost a large sum two years ago to a person introduced through an acquaintance. The trouble began with an investment pitched as a chance to build up a lump sum. Returns came in at first but stopped within a few months. A filed a criminal complaint against the other person on fraud charges with police last year. After being told in the first half of this year that the case had been referred to prosecutors, A expected a quick resolution. The case still has not gone to trial.
A's lawyer said that after the Supreme Prosecutors' Office was abolished in October and its prosecution functions were transferred to the newly created Public Prosecution Office, a prosecutor asked police to conduct supplementary investigation. "As the investigation drags on, the victim is left stewing over the betrayal and enormous financial losses," the lawyer said. The lawyer added that lawyers now trade the self-deprecating line that the best option is simply not to become a crime victim. Some also worry that routine delays in case handling could give rise to expediting payments for investigations, the kind of practice seen in less developed countries, the lawyer said.
The number of suspects in unsolved criminal cases, including fraud and assault, rose by about 120,000 in the first nine months of this year. Legal experts say investigative delays have become routine as prosecution reform has advanced — from the realignment of investigative powers between prosecutors and police to the abolition of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the launch of the Public Prosecution Office — and that the burden is falling on the public.
According to the Public Prosecution Office on the 22nd, suspects in unsolved cases numbered 275,279 as of the end of September, up 117,721 from 157,558 at the end of last year. That is more than triple the 87,967 recorded in 2022, the year after the realignment of investigative powers took effect. The figure rose to 100,504 in 2023 and 113,385 in 2024 before passing 150,000 last year. This year it topped 270,000 in just nine months, approaching 300,000.
The increase has been steepest in crimes that directly affect daily life. Suspects in unsolved fraud cases totaled 55,882 as of the end of September, up 37,158 from 18,724 in 2022. Over the same period, suspects in unsolved assault cases more than tripled to 26,595 from 8,030. Suspects in unsolved sexual violence cases also more than doubled, to 7,322 this year from 3,049 in 2022, an increase of more than 3,000 from 4,292 at the end of last year.
Legal professionals point to successive overhauls of the criminal justice system as one cause of the backlog. The realignment of investigative powers gave police the authority to close cases at the initial stage, and the abolition of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, with prosecution functions moved to the Public Prosecution Office, separated the agencies handling investigation and prosecution, making case processing more complex. If transferring cases and conducting supplementary investigations takes longer, the cost falls on the public, they say.
Kim Han-kyu, an attorney at law firm Gonggan, said the structure used to be relatively simple, with police handling the initial investigation and prosecutors filling in the gaps. "Since police were given the authority to close cases, the procedures for passing cases between agencies have grown more complicated, and processing times are getting longer," he said.
The concern is that trial and error under the new criminal justice framework could pile on top of a backlog that has yet to clear. With prosecutors' authority to conduct supplementary investigations directly curtailed, poor cooperation between agencies could worsen what is known as case ping-pong, in which cases are repeatedly passed back and forth among the Public Prosecution Office, police and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
One attorney who formerly served as a senior prosecutor said the change amounts less to a simple shift in the investigative system than to a collapse of the existing one. "A prosecutor who has to decide whether to bring charges has no choice but to ask police or the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency for further investigation unless convinced the investigation has been thorough," the attorney said. The attorney added that special judicial police officers, who previously worked under prosecutors' direction, sometimes lack legal expertise and may fail to carry out requests for supplementary investigation, prolonging case handling.
Another attorney who formerly worked as a prosecutor said victims without access to legal counsel have no option but to wait for investigations to end. "The longer the delays drag on, the later victims get relief, and the situation can end up favoring only the suspects," the attorney said.