There are plenty of movies and TV shows featuring private eyes, but rarely do you hear about
their real life escapades.
You won't even find their offices in Korea, because detective work is actually illegal
here.
Oh Jung-hee turns the spotlight on efforts to change that law,... as well as how it's
being received by some concerned parties.
Detectives with superb reasoning skills who find missing people and carefully study crime
scenes.
For Koreans, they can only be found in movies.
Korea is the only OECD country that bans private investigation.
So people who need to secretly collect data or evidence...
usually visit the so-called private inquiry agencies or errand centers... that are run
illegally.
Lawmaker Yun Jae-ok submitted a bill to the National Assembly last year... to legalize
detectives as an official job with a formal license.
The government would oversee detectives... and grant or cancel their private investigator
licenses.
"We don't have official detectives in Korea,... but we have LOTS of people with required capabilities...
like retired police officers and former legal investigators.
We're wasting their abilities because detective work isn't allowed.
Legalizing it would create 20-thousand new jobs and 2 million U.S. dollars of economic
gains."
There is a growing expectation that the bill could be passed... especially as President
Moon Jae-in held it up as one of his pledges during the campaign period.
"Ever since the bill was submitted to the National Assembly, there's been growing public
interest in pursuing detective work.
These students gather here twice a week... to learn some of the skills necessary for
private investigation; today, they're learning to take fingerprints from objects."
This class at the Korea Foundation for Special Vocational Education offers courses for investigating
cases like accidents, insurance fraud, and missing persons.
On-site investigation and identifying forged documents are also taught here.
"I was a police officer for 11 years... and did investigative detective work.
But I had to quit my job because of my baby.
I'm now looking for a new job... and I took this course because detective work is quite
similar to my previous job."
The foundation's chairman says... working as a detective and working at inquiry agencies
or errand centers...
could be similar in a way,... but there's a clear reason why detective job has to be
legalized in Korea.
"People with professional capabilities will have to be officialy recognized to protect
companies' and individual's rights and interests.
Inquiry agencies and errand centers do their work for money after all."
The bill to legalize detectives has been submitted to the parliament several times over the last
ten years.
So for those in the field, the ongoing discussion is not a surprise, and they don't expect the
bill to be passed this time.
"80 to 90 percent of our work is illegal, so it'd be much better if our work is legalized.
Those who want to do this work for decades to come, usually the younger ones, welcome
this move.
But elderly ones don't really want this policy, because, then, they'd have to take tests and
earn a license.
Our profits could decline as well."
Korea's prosecution and police start an investigation ONLY when there are clear cases of crime and
the need for punishment.
So for those that are NOT YET criminal cases -- like when someone is missing or when a
spouse might be having an affair -- ordinary citizens need private detectives to collect
evidence.
But though demand exists, concerns still remain.
Lawyers claim... detectives will gain an unlimited authority to spy on citizens' privacy and
whereabouts.
"If we look at the bill, there's no clear explanation on what'll be done to the collected
information.
It just says there will be punishment for illegal acts, but that's not a strong enough
policy measure to stop one from leaking other people's personal information.
What if LEGALLY collected information is ILLEGALLY leaked?"
"I think many people may still prefer to consult with inquiry agencies over detectives when
they want secretive investigation... which may make this new policy quite useless.
So the government will have to tighten its control to rule out anything that's illegal."
In creating the new job of 'detective,'... the boundary of what's legal and illegal will
have to be clearly defined... to turn private investigation into a truly socially beneficial
field of work.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.