KICS - KOREA INFORMATION SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SERVICES

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Commencement of criminal investigation

Click on each stage to view the details. Reference : Agreement and deposit Commencement
of criminal
investigation Closing
through internal investigation Booking Examination of
arrest and
confinement Arrest Interrogation of
a suspect before
detention Detention Non-detention Transfer Non-indictment Indictment Suspension of indictment (testifiers) Trial Suspension of sentence and
stay of execution Execution
of the given
sentence Suspension of execution of punishment

Criminal investigation

Criminal investigation refers to all the activities conducted by an investigative agency to determine the identity of and to secure a criminal (a person who violated a law or regulation), to gather and preserve the related evidences, to clarify the suspicion of a crime, and to determine whether to file and maintain arraignment or not to.

Investigative agency

An investigative agency is an agency that investigates ciminal cases. The investigative officers include prosecutors and judicial police officers. Judicial police officers consist of general judicial police officers and special judicial police officers, and they investigate criminal cases under the command of the prosecutor.

Commencement of criminal investigation Clues to criminal investigation

A clue refers to the cause of an investigative agency??s investigation.
In addition to a complaint notifying an investigative agency of the commission of a crime, as in the case of accusation, delation, and reporting, there are no limitations to what can be considered a clue for investigation, such as a rumor, a media report, and the discovery of a crime while investigating a different case.
If there is an accusation or delation, or if a criminal surrenders himself/herself to an investigative agency, an investigation will be launched, and the accused, etc. will be investigated as a suspect. In the case of reporting, etc., the reported person will be investigated as a suspect if the investigative agency acknowledges a crime. The stage before the acknowledgement of a crime is the internal investigation stage.

Accusation

Accusation refers to a positive expression of intention by which a holder of accusation rights, such as the victim in a crime, reports the crime to an investigative agency to demand the punishment of the criminal. This is different from simply reporting damage incurred due to a crime.

Holders of accusation rights

Considered holders of accusation rights are ?? all victims of crimes; ?? in the event that the victim is an incapacitated person under the law, his/her legal proxy; and ?? in the event that the victim has died, his/her spouse, immediate family, and siblings. In principle, a person cannot file an accusation against someone related to him/her by affinity or consanguinity (e.g, parent or parent-in-law), except an accusation of sexual violence.

Accusations should be filed with an investigative agency.

A written accusation may be submitted to a high-ranking official who is not part of an investigative agency, such as the president, prime minister, National Assembly speaker, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or Minister of Justice, but it will take such written accusation a long time to reach an investigative agency. This will delay the criminal investigation, which will cause damage to the accuser and will unnecessarily increase the workload.

Method

An accusation may be filed in writing or verbally, but it should be filed with a prosecutor or a judicial police officer. In the event that an accusation is filed verbally, the investigative agency must draw up a written evidence of such verbal filing.
A written accusation has no prescribed form, but it should include the personal details of the accuser and the accused, the facts of the crime that the accused is being charged with, and an expression of intention to demand the punishment of the criminal.
An accusation may be filed even though information on the accused??s personal details is unavailable, but to specify the accused the accuser should specify the details of the damage he/she incurred due to the crime, and should attach the evidences of such damage.
An accusation may be filed through a proxy, but it should be filed in the name of the accuser. If it is found that an accusation was filed under a false name or under the name of a person who is not the accuser, the investigative agency may stop the investigation and close the case.

Rights and duties of accusers

An accuser may present himself/herself at an investigative agency to state the accusation and the facts surrounding it, and is qualified to be notified of the result of the case. If the prosecutor has disposed of an accusation case as not indicted, the accuser may ask for the reason for such disposition, and may raise objections to it (filing of appeal or arbitration).
The accuser shall cooperate with the investigative agency in the investigation it is conducting. If the accuser does not comply with the investigative agency??s request for his/her cooperation, the investigative agency may stop the investigation and close the case.

Offense subject to complaint

An offense subject to complaint refers to a crime that can be referred for court trial only when a holder of accusation rights files an accusation. This category includes sexual crimes.
An accusation can be made in relation to an offense subject to complaint only within six (6) months from the time the accuser came to know of the offense. In the event, however, that a valid reason exists for failure to make the accusation within such prescribed period (e.g., act of God), the period for making an accusation will begin from the time that such reason is cleared. In accordance, however, with the Special Act (the law pertaining to the punishment of sexual crimes, the protection of the victims thereof, etc.), the period for making an accusation in relation to an offense subject to complaint may be extended to one (1) year.
In the case of adultery claims, an accusation may be filed only when a divorce action is filed against the spouse, or after the marriage is cleared. In the cases of remarriage and cancellation of the divorce action, an accusation cannot be filed.

Cancellation of accusation

An accusation may be cancelled before the first trial sentence, but the accuser cannot refile such accusation.
In the case of an offense subject to complaint, if there are accomplices, the accuser cannot accuse or cancel his/her accusation of only some of such accomplices. An accusation or cancellation of accusation of some of the accomplices shall have the same effect for the rest of the accomplices.

Delation

Delation, like accusation, refers to an expression of intention to report a crime to an investigative agency to demand the punishment of the criminal. Unlike accusation, however, any third party (a person other than the criminal and the holder of accusation rights) can delate a crime, and when a government employee discovers or witnesses a crime while performing his job, he must delate it.
As with the violations of the Customs Act or the Taxation Crime Punishment Act, there are cases where punishment may be imposed only when there is delation (compulsory delation case).
With regard to the accusation restriction regulations (the ban on accusation of a person related to oneself by affinity or consanguinity), accusation methods, and cancellation of accusation, the laws and regulations pertaining to accusation shall apply as well to delation.

Documents related to accusation and delation Written accusation/delation and written cancellation of accusation/delation

A written accusation/delation has no prescribed form and shall include only the personal details of the accuser/delator and of the accused/delated, the nature of damage sustained by the victim, and the statement of intention to demand the punishment of the offender, but it is not necessary for it to specify the name of the crime. The facts of the damage incurred due to the crime should be clearly specified, however, to the extent that these are known.
A written cancellation of accusation/delation has no prescribed form and shall specify only the personal details of the accused/delated, the name and nature of the crime, the time of accusation/delation, and the personal details of the accuser/delator. An accusation in relation to an offense subject to complaint may be cancelled before the first trial sentence, but the accuser cannot refile such accusation.

Certificate of receipt of a written accusation/delation

A document certifying the receipt of a written accusation/delation, which can be applied for by visiting a competent prosecution services civil service center, or by mail, phone, or Internet