Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |

South Korea is going to digitize all criminal procedures with a purpose to achieve promptness, fairness and

transparency in a criminal justice procedure and to contribute to the extension of citizens' rights and interests by improving services in the area of criminal justice announced by the Ministry of justice on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Justice, “the "Next-Generation Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services” will officially be launched which enables the complete digitization of criminal procedures.

The "Next-Generation Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services" is a newly developed version of KICS. KICS is an electronic management system that enables criminal justice organizations to conduct investigations, prosecutions, trials and enforcement in a standardized format while sharing the information and documents generated.

The newly announced system: Next-Generation KICS represents a significant leap forward by incorporating cutting-edge IT technologies into the nation’s criminal justice processes as per Ministry of Justice.

The next-generation KICS system will immediately be implemented by the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecution Service, the National Police Agency, and the Korea Coast Guard. While the Korean courts will start using the

system by June 2025, coinciding with the completion of their system development.

The developmental system will allow the individuals to access real-time updates on their ongoing cases across all investigative bodies simply by undergoing personal authentication through the dedicated online portal.

This function allows users to track their cases by providing updated case numbers even if there is a change in the responsible agency -- such as from the police to the prosecution.

The crime victim support is also included in the next-generation KICS system. Crime victims can seamlessly

verify their cases status simply by completing identity verification allowing them to check on their ongoing cases with investigative agencies.

The Next-Generation KICS allows a notable feature of implementation of remote video investigations that permits witnesses to participate in investigations from their location using smartphones or PCs, eliminating the

need for physical presence at investigation sites.

Additionally, the Next-Generation KICS system is equipped with AI-driven intelligent case management support. This feature analyzes criminal facts, key terms, and charges to offer information from similar cases, decisions, and verdicts, thereby enhancing the speed and efficiency of case management. 

The additional innovations integrated into this system include the automatic transcription of spoken words

during investigations into text.

The development of the next-generation KICS span period is of 33 months started to develop in 2021 and

completed in September 2024, notified by the Ministry of Justice.

“We are committed to the stable operation of the Next-Generation KICS. Our goal is to provide the public

with more accessible and convenient criminal justice services,” said the Ministry of Justice.