A court has ruled that police acted lawfully when they transferred an ongoing investigation to another jurisdiction, following consultation, in order to merge it with a separate probe.
The Seoul Administrative Court's Fourth Administrative Division, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Young-min, ruled last month against a plaintiff identified as A, who had sued the chief of Police Station B seeking to void the transfer, legal sources said on the 25th.
Police Station B, located in Seoul, had been investigating A after receiving a criminal complaint, but suspended the probe around 2024 because A's whereabouts could not be determined.
The dispute arose when the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency, which was investigating a separate case involving A, requested that the case be transferred so the two could be investigated together. Police Station B resumed its investigation and transferred the case to the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency in June last year. A challenged the transfer by filing an administrative appeal with the Central Administrative Appeals Commission, and filed an administrative lawsuit after the appeal was dismissed.
The central question was whether the transfer amounted to an administrative disposition subject to appellate litigation. Police Station B argued that the transfer was merely an adjustment of investigative jurisdiction under internal police procedures and therefore not subject to such litigation. The lawfulness of the transfer was also at issue. A argued that the legal basis for the measure was unclear and that the move was unlawful because the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency, which is not a superior body to Police Station B, had directed the investigation.
The court found that a decision by an investigative agency to transfer a case constitutes an exercise of public authority, or an equivalent administrative action, and therefore qualifies as an administrative disposition subject to appellate litigation. The court cited the possibility that a suspect may find it difficult to appear for questioning if the police station handling the case changes, and that legal interests may also shift depending on the method of questioning and who conducts it. "The Criminal Procedure Act contains no provisions whatsoever on police investigative jurisdiction or the transfer of cases," the court said. "Nor is there any separate procedure for challenging a transfer decision by an investigative agency."
On the merits, the court found the transfer lawful. It noted that relevant rules allow police station chiefs to determine jurisdiction through consultation when cases filed at two or more police offices need to be investigated jointly.
The court also concluded that the head of the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency had not directed the joint investigation as a superior authority over Police Station B, citing the absence of any written investigative directive and the circumstances of the transfer. "Police Station B appears to have complied with the transfer request without raising any particular objection," the court said. "That in itself can be regarded as consultation."