Nearly 10% of all cases opened by South Korea's Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials since its launch have gone unresolved for more than six months. Among cases still open, one in three has been pending that long. As the ruling party pushes to expand the agency nationwide and redraw the scope of its investigations, critics say strengthening case-handling capacity and clearing the backlog are urgent priorities.
Of the 3,800 cases the office has opened since its establishment, 370 had been pending for more than six months as of the end of July, according to data obtained by Rep. Kim Min-jeon of the People Power Party and released on the 12th. That accounts for 9.7% of all cases opened. Measured against the 1,153 cases currently unresolved, the share of long-pending cases reaches 32.1%.
Broken down by duration, 233 cases had been pending for between six months and one year, 60 for between one and two years, and 77 for more than two years. That means more than one in five long-pending cases has gone unresolved for over two years.
Legal experts criticize the office, which operates on an annual budget of about 30 billion won ($21 million), for leaving cases unresolved for extended periods and adding to the burden on those under investigation. In some cases, judges and prosecutors approaching honorary retirement have been unable to receive retirement allowances of about 200 million won because cases opened on complaints filed by civic groups remained unresolved for more than a year, according to accounts from the legal community. Under current rules, anyone under investigation or facing a misconduct inquiry by a law enforcement agency is excluded from receiving the allowance.
One person in the legal community said some cases have seen no questioning at all despite being opened nearly a year earlier. "Even malicious, nuisance complaints are not disposed of quickly, so petitions are filed demanding prompt closure," the person said.
Against this backdrop, the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to remove the president and National Assembly members from the office's investigative jurisdiction, narrowing its scope to personnel at investigative and judicial agencies such as judges, prosecutors and police, while expanding the organization nationwide. Legal experts warn, however, that unless the case management system is reviewed and investigative capacity strengthened, the backlog problem could persist even after the expansion.
Park Sang-hyun, head of investigation planning at the office, said at a National Assembly forum on the 7th that what is needed now is not to reduce the agency's mandate but to improve the system so the agency can properly carry out the duties assigned to it.