NHRCK: "Forced Late-Night Police Interrogations Violate Human Rights" After Pregnant Woman Suffers Miscarriage

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has issued a decision stating that "forcing late-night interrogations as a matter of routine practice constitutes a human rights violation," following an incident where a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage after consecutive late-night police questioning sessions.

The victim, a woman in her 30s identified as A, was a suspect in a fraud case and underwent police questioning six months ago while in the early stages of pregnancy.

At the end of last year, she was subjected to interrogations lasting over 12 hours for two consecutive days. In January of this year, she was questioned again for nearly 14 hours, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

The following day, she experienced abdominal pain and subsequently lost her baby.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, "late-night interrogations"—defined as those occurring between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.—are prohibited in principle unless an arrest warrant has been requested or there are urgent circumstances.

Exceptions are only permitted if the suspect has signed a request for a late-night interrogation due to unavoidable circumstances that prevent them from returning for further questioning.

A signed such requests twice, but she claims she only did so because she did not want to return for multiple sessions. She alleged that the investigator made insulting remarks, such as, "I've never seen a company with such small capital. It's even smaller than the illegal gambling sites I've investigated," and asked, "Ready for a late-night session?"

An NHRCK investigation revealed that for the second long-duration interrogation, no late-night interrogation request form had even been filed.

[Park Min-hee / Lawyer: Because there is no supporting evidence to confirm whether the interviewee properly expressed their will or was notified of the exception criteria, issues regarding due process arise.]

Furthermore, A had informed the police of her pregnancy prior to the questioning, but because she disclosed it before the interrogation officially began, it was not recorded in the investigation report.

[Jo Hyeong-seok / Director of Investigation Division, NHRCK: At the very least, if she mentioned she was pregnant, protective measures for a pregnant woman—such as checking her health status first—should have been taken, but that did not happen.]

The NHRCK stated that "the fact of pregnancy itself does not automatically prohibit all interrogations, nor does it immediately render a late-night interrogation illegal." However, it pointed out that "police officers must respect the human rights of citizens." The commission recommended that when late-night interrogation requests are filed, the specific reasons why a return visit is difficult must be documented, and that if a suspect discloses health conditions such as pregnancy, it must be officially recorded by the investigator.

Reported by Lee Se-hyeon | Video by Kang Dong-chul | Video Editing by Park Na-young | Graphics by Jo Su-in | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.