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South Korea's prosecutorial reform raises questions for antitrust enforcement, leniency

By Wooyoung Lee ( April 17, 2026, 04:34 GMT | Comment) -- South Korea's plan to split investigative and prosecutorial powers into two separate bodies marks a major shift in its criminal justice system, but it also raises uncertainty for criminal antitrust enforcement and the operation of the criminal leniency regime. Under the new structure, judicial police officers will take over probes while prosecutors will decide on indictments after police investigators are done with their probes. Key questions remain over whether prosecutors will retain supplementary investigative powers and how the criminal leniency system, which relies heavily on prosecutorial control, will function after the reform.South Korea’s plan to separate criminal investigation and prosecution powers is set to reshape how antitrust cases are handled, but key questions remain over how referrals will work, whether police investigators can handle complex cases and how the criminal leniency system will operate. ...

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