ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the roles of public prosecutors in match-fixing investigations and prosecutions in Korea. Public prosecutors in Korea are appointed from an elite cadre of law school graduates who have completed an intense selection process. In Korea, criminal investigations are carried out under the direction and discretion of a prosecutor who may be the investigator, director of the police investigation and prosecutor at the same time. These roles reflect the historical development of the prosecutorial service and the Korean criminal justice system’s civil law tradition, and are not without criticism in Korea. After considering the distinctive features of the prosecutorial system and key contextual influences, the chapter examines a case study involving popular sports in Korea: volleyball and baseball. The Korean Volleyball League was hit with its first public match-fixing scandal in 2012. Fifteen former and active volleyball players were suspected of being involved in rigging matches in the 2009–11 seasons. Five gambling brokers and one financier were also prosecuted for paying players to make deliberate mistakes in games. The investigations concluded with the Korean Volleyball Foundation imposing lifetime bans on four players and concurrent investigations and prosecutions for match-fixing in baseball. The case demonstrates the methods used by Korean prosecutors to investigate and prosecute match-fixing at the time. The chapter concludes by examining the recent introduction of reporting hotlines and making some suggestions for further improvements to recent practical measures taken by the Korean authorities to combat match-fixing.
