Page 291 - 2020 Defence White Paper

[Chart 7-9] Goals and Key Tasks of Military Judicial Reform

Ensuring Fair Trial and Protecting Human Rights through
Military Judicial Reform

Improvement of Military Courts Improvement of Investigation Systems
Judicial Police and
Organization Trial Prosecution
Others
• Transfer jurisdiction over • Abolish convening • Set up a military • Separate military police in
appellate trials to civilian authorities’ rights to prosecutor’s office in charge of investigations
courts. confirm decisions and each service. and those in charge of
• Set up military courts reduce sentences. • Abolish the military operations.
that directly report to the • Prohibit military judges commander’s right • Implement measures
MND. from taking other legal to approve detention to enhance the human
• Appoint civil legal positions. warrant requests. rights practices by civilian
practitioners as heads of • Protect the status of • Provide military police.
local military courts. military judges. prosecutors with the • Provide legal basis for
• Abolish the appointment right to object. the power of the military
of field officers as lay • Introduce restrictions judicial police.
judges. on the supervision of • Prohibit the appointment
• Conduct circuit courts. military prosecutors. of servicemember as
• Implement assistant military judicial
participatory trial with police officers.
servicemembers. • Introduce public
defenders for victims of
military crimes.

Developing Transparent, The MND is developing a transparent,
Reasonable Investigation Practices reasonable investigation system by Chapter 7

reinforcing the independence of inves-
tigative agencies. First, to enhance the independence of military prosecutors, the
21)
MND decided to set up a prosecutor’s office in the headquarters of each service–in A military prosecutor needs
the approval of the head
lieu of the common prosecutor’s division at division-level units or higher–and to of the affiliated unit when
requesting a detention
abolish the commanders’ right to approve requests for detention warrants . As for warrant (Article 238 of the
21)
Military Court Act).
expertise reinforcement of the military judicial police, the MND is seeking to
22)
separate the organizations and functions of the military police in charge of The military judicial
police is an auxiliary
investigations and those in charge of military operations, and prohibit the investigative body that aids
investigations under orders
appointment of servicemembers as assistant military judicial police officers . The of the military prosecution
22)
MND also ref ected such improvements to the investigation system in the revised bill or military judicial police
(Article 46 of the Military
for the Military Court Act. Meanwhile, with the legislative bill for the Act on the Court Act). Currently,
enlisted members serving
Duty Performance of Military Police passing the plenary session of the National in the military judicial
police serve as military
Assembly as the legal basis for administrative police activities of the military police, police officers or handle
security works at the
the MND laid the foundation for legal control over authority actions such as police Military Security Support
Command (Article 46 of the
administration. Military Court Act).

Chapter 7. Embedding an Inclusive Culture in the Military: With the People, Trusted by the People