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A total of 1,162 cases involving the law distortion offense were filed with the police during the seven months since its enforcement.
Among them, 76 percent were concluded with decisions such as non-prosecution, with only some 200 cases remaining under investigation.
According to the Korean National Police Agency today (October 29), as of October 12, the number of registered cases regarding the law distortion offense stood at 1,162, involving 14,825 individuals.
Of these, 885 cases (13,266 people) were disposed of through non-prosecution or similar measures, while 34 cases (70 people) were transferred to other agencies.
The processing rate based on the number of cases was 79.1 percent.
Cases currently under investigation total 243, involving 1,489 individuals.
The law distortion offense stipulates that criminal judges, prosecutors, police officers, and others who distort the law for the purpose of unlawfully or unfairly benefiting others or harming their rights and interests shall be punished by imprisonment of up to 10 years and suspension of qualifications for up to 10 years.
The individuals reported or accused under the law distortion offense to the police so far include 4,355 police officers, 1,066 prosecutors, 877 judges, 160 special judicial police officers, and 26 prosecution investigators.
The police figures include maritime police officers, and the prosecutor figures include prosecutors belonging to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and special prosecutors.
"Other non-official individuals" who do not fall under these occupational statuses numbered 8,341, accounting for 56.3 percent of all involved persons.
Accusations for the law distortion offense challenging rulings or investigation results of major cases have continued since the law took effect.
The previous day, the civic group Citizens' Action for Justice (Saséhaeng) filed a complaint against Senior Judge Gu Hoe-geun of the Seoul High Court with the Major Crime Investigation Agency on charges of law distortion and abuse of authority, following his ruling to acquit Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hun in his appellate trial for violating the Political Funds Act.
Lawyer Kim Kyung-ho also recently submitted a complaint, arguing that Senior Judge Gu cited the Supreme Court precedent regarding donations under the Political Funds Act but failed to apply the relevant legal principles.
Previously, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Cho Hee-de was accused on the grounds that he failed to fulfill his duty to review trial records last year during the process of remanding the Public Official Election Act violation case of President Lee Jae-myung with a guilty intent, and Senior Judge Ji Gwi-yeon was accused over allegations of miscalculating the detention period at the time of the cancellation of the detention of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Regarding the prosecution's handling of the case concerning former First Lady Kim Jung-sook's clothing expenses, the then-chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the responsible senior prosecutor were also accused of charges including law distortion.
This case was transferred from the police to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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