If Investigation Records Are Obtained for Disciplinary Purposes, Whose Statements Are Obtained and Who Sees Them: Four Questions on the Advance Notice of the Draft Amendment to the Regulation on Disciplinary Actions against Soldiers
This is a PRO SE editorial question written after reading the National Participation Legislation Center's advance notice screen (Notice No. 88788), the attached hwpx file of the draft, the provision-by-provision statement of reasons for the amendment, the National Assembly legislative status screen for the partial amendment bill to the Military Personnel Act (substitute bill, Bill No. 2218508), and the current and forthcoming provisions of the Military Personnel Act, the Regulation on Disciplinary Actions against Soldiers, the Regulation on Disciplinary Actions against Public Officials, the National Civil Service Act, and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials as displayed on the Korea Law Information Center on October 16, 2026. It is neither a citizen's opinion nor an opinion submitted to the Ministry of National Defense, and it is not advice on an individual disciplinary case. On the reference date the notice period had not yet ended, and this entry covers only what the screens and files showed on that day.
This entry reads the draft partial amendment to the Regulation on Disciplinary Actions against Soldiers for which the Ministry of National Defense gave advance legislative notice on September 22, 2026. The draft, which seeks to implement in detail Article 59-3, paragraph (4) and Article 59, paragraph (8), subparagraph 3 of the Military Personnel Act, both scheduled to take effect on December 10, 2026, sets the scope of investigation materials that may be obtained for disciplinary purposes differently for each investigating agency and defines the scope of abusive conduct within the military. The entry places these approaches alongside the current provisions and Article 8-3 of the Regulation on Disciplinary Actions against Public Officials and leaves the points that arise as questions.
The Materials Read and Their Stage
This text reads a draft Presidential Decree at the stage of the Government's advance legislative notice. The notice is Ministry of National Defense Notice No. 2026-5485 and the date of notice is September 22, 2026. The reception period on the notice screen runs from September 22 to November 2, 2026, and the office in charge is written as the Legal Affairs Officer's Office of the Ministry of National Defense. The reference date screen displayed the remaining days as 17 and the number of legislative opinions as 1. This text has not read the content of that opinion.
From the attached hwpx file of the draft statute, I read the bill cover, reasons for proposal, principal contents, matters for reference, text of amendment, supplementary provisions, and the comparative table of new and old provisions. The cover states that it is pending review by the Ministry of Government Legislation, and the fields for the bill number and the date of resolution are left blank. The accompanying reasons for enactment and amendment by article explain the grounds for delegation for the two amendments as the delegation in the first part of paragraph (4) of Article 59-3 and in subparagraph 3 of paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the Military Personnel Act, scheduled to take effect on December 10, 2026, and state that the principal contents discussed in the legislative process are "none." I did not read the draft statute in PDF format on the same screen or the written confirmation of non-attachment of a regulatory impact analysis.
The delegating statute is the bill to amend partially the Military Personnel Act (substitute bill, Bill No. 2218508) proposed on April 22, 2026 by the Chairperson of the National Defense Committee. The National Assembly legislative status screen shows passage in plenary session as originally proposed on May 7, 2026, transmission to the Government on May 29, and promulgation as Act No. 21765 on June 9. The Korea Law Information Center shows the effective date of that Act as December 10, 2026. Thus, as of the reference date, the statutory provisions that this draft seeks to specify have been promulgated but are not yet in force.
Sources for this section: National Participation Legislation Center, advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Ministry of National Defense Public Notice No. 2026-5485) · Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx · Statement of reasons for enactment and amendment by provision attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, PDF · National Participation Legislation Center, National Assembly legislative status: Partial Amendment Bill to the Military Personnel Management Act (Alternative) (No. 2218508) · National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026)
The provisions in force and the delegating provisions soon to take effect
Article 59-3 of the Military Personnel Act in force on the reference date (Act No. 21857, effective October 2, 2026) consists of three paragraphs. Paragraph (1) requires the Board of Audit and Inspection, the prosecution office or military prosecution, military judicial police officers, and other investigative agencies, upon commencing and upon concluding an investigation or inquiry into a soldier's misconduct (in the case of the prosecution office, upon deciding whether to institute a public prosecution), to notify, within 10 days, the head of the unit or agency to which the soldier belongs or by which the soldier is supervised. Paragraph (2) prohibits proceeding with a disciplinary procedure while a Board of Audit and Inspection investigation is under way, and paragraph (3) provides that a disciplinary procedure need not be proceeded with while an investigation is under way. Paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the same Act requires that, when a disposition of discipline, etc. is imposed on grounds of a sex crime or sexual harassment, the result be notified to the victim if the victim so requests.
The screen of the Military Personnel Act scheduled to take effect on December 10, 2026 (Act No. 21765) places a paragraph (4) under Article 59-3. The head of a unit or agency that has received notification of the conclusion of an investigation or inquiry may request, from the Board of Audit and Inspection, the prosecution office or military prosecution, military judicial police officers, and other investigative agencies, the investigation and inquiry materials prescribed by Presidential Decree (including materials related to whether to institute a public prosecution or to maintain a public prosecution) within the scope necessary for the disciplinary procedure, and the agency receiving the request shall cooperate absent special reasons. Paragraph (8) of Article 59 on the same screen divides the grounds for notification into three subparagraphs, adding as subparagraph 3 conduct that, by abusing one's superior position or relationship, etc. in the military, causes another soldier, etc. to be treated unfairly beyond the appropriate scope of work or inflicts physical or mental pain, etc., as prescribed by Presidential Decree (rendered with the notation corrected).
Article 8 of the current Decree on Disciplinary Actions against Military Personnel (Presidential Decree No. 34625, effective July 2, 2024) requires the disciplining authority that has received notification of the commencement of an investigation to decide without delay whether to proceed with the procedure, but there is no provision requesting investigation materials. Paragraph (2) of Article 20 lists 19 subparagraphs of grounds for discipline that cannot be mitigated. Among them, subparagraph 6 concerns sex crimes, subparagraph 8 concerns sexual harassment, subparagraph 13 concerns unfair conduct under Article 13-3 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, and subparagraph 19 concerns conduct that, by abusing one's superior position or relationship, etc. in the workplace, inflicts physical or mental pain on other public officials, on employees of related units, agencies, and organizations, and on persons related to duties, or worsens the working environment. Paragraph (1) of Article 22-3 requires that a victim be informed that the victim may request notification of the result when the ground is subparagraph 6 or subparagraph 8, and paragraph (3) prohibits a victim who has received notification of the result from disclosing its content.
For comparison, I read Article 8-3 of the Decree on the Discipline of Public Officials (Presidential Decree No. 36728, effective October 2, 2026). Delegated by paragraph (4) of Article 83 of the National Civil Service Act, this provision lists, as Board of Audit and Inspection materials, a written demand for a disposition of discipline or for imposition of an additional disciplinary monetary penalty, audit reports on suspects and related persons, written question-and-answer statements, and written confirmations, and, as investigation materials, written notices of commencement of investigation, written notifications of criminal disposition results, indictments, written decisions not to indict, written decisions to transfer or not to transfer, interrogation records of suspects, and written statements, obtained from the prosecution office, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and police, and other investigative agencies. The parties for consultation are the Prosecutor General, the Commissioner of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and the heads of other investigative agencies, and the beginning of the provision bears a notation of amendment dated September 29, 2026.
Sources for this section: National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Management Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026) · National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026) · National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 34625, in force July 2, 2024) · National Law Information Center, current Public Officials Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 36728, in force October 2, 2026) · National Law Information Center, current State Public Officials Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026)
What the Draft Under Advance Notice Seeks to Change
Article 8-2 of the draft prescribes the investigation and inquiry materials prescribed by Presidential Decree under the first part of paragraph (4) of Article 59-3 of the Act in three branches. The Board of Audit and Inspection materials in subparagraph 1 have the same composition as the Decree on the Discipline of Public Officials, while the parties for consultation are changed to the Minister of National Defense or the Chief of Staff of each service (including the Commandant of the Marine Corps where the Chief of Naval Operations has delegated authority). The investigation materials of military prosecution and military judicial police in subparagraph 2 comprise written notices of commencement of investigation, written notifications of criminal disposition results, indictments, written decisions not to indict, written opinions on transfer, interrogation records, statement records, and written statements of suspects and related persons, and materials determined in consultation with the head of the Prosecution Corps of the Ministry of National Defense, the head of the Ministry of National Defense Investigation Command, and other heads of military investigative agencies. The investigation materials of the prosecution, police, and other investigative agencies in subparagraph 3 comprise written notices of commencement of investigation, written notifications of criminal disposition results, indictments, written decisions not to indict, written decisions to transfer, written decisions not to transfer, interrogation records of suspects, written statements, and materials determined in consultation with the Prosecutor General, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and other heads of investigative agencies.
Paragraph (1) of Article 22-3 of the draft changes the ground of the duty to inform from subparagraph 6 or subparagraph 8 of paragraph (2) of Article 20 to any one of the subparagraphs of paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the Act. Paragraph (5) of Article 22-3 of the draft prescribes the conduct prescribed by Presidential Decree under subparagraph 3 of paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the Act in two subparagraphs. Subparagraph 1 covers unfair conduct under the subparagraphs of Article 13-3 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, limited to cases where the victim is an individual, and subparagraph 2 covers conduct falling under subparagraph 19 of paragraph (2) of Article 20. The supplementary provisions state only that this Decree shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation.
There are differences among the texts within the file. The principal contents describe the end of the Board of Audit and Inspection materials as "materials determined in consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection," while the text of amendment describes "materials determined in consultation." The principal contents do not show the written demand for disposition, written notice of commencement of investigation, and written notification of criminal disposition results that appear in the text of amendment. In the revised-provision column for subparagraph 2 of the comparative table of new and old provisions, the entry ends with "materials" following "in consultation with the heads of military investigative agencies," so the phrase "as determined" is missing. This text reads the text of amendment as the proposed wording.
| Provision | Current | Draft under advance notice | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subparagraph 1 of Article 8-2 of the draft | No corresponding provision in the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree | Written requests for disposition from the Board of Audit and Inspection, audit reports on the suspect and related persons, question-and-answer records, confirmations, and materials determined through consultation | Same structure as subparagraph 1 of Article 8-3 of the Public Officials Disciplinary Decree |
| Subparagraph 2 of Article 8-2 of the draft | No corresponding provision | Interrogation records, statement records, written statements, etc. of the suspect and related persons prepared by military investigative agencies | Interrogation records and statement records of related persons are also included among the materials that may be requested |
| Subparagraph 3 of Article 8-2 of the draft | No corresponding provision | Interrogation records, written statements, etc. of the suspect prepared by the prosecution, the police or other investigative agencies | Same scope as the Public Officials Disciplinary Decree, but the Prosecution Service and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency are not named |
| Article 22-3 (1) of the draft | Notification where subparagraph 6 or 8 of Article 20 (2) applies | Notification where any subparagraph of Article 59 (8) of the Act applies | Abuse of a superior position (gapjil) under subparagraph 3 of the Act also becomes subject to notification |
| Article 22-3 (5) of the draft | No corresponding provision | Unfair acts under Article 13-3 of the Code of Conduct (where the victim is an individual) and acts under subparagraph 19 of Article 20 (2) | Defines the conduct delegated by the Act in two categories |
| Addenda | Not applicable | Entry into force on the date of promulgation | The delegating provision of the Act takes effect on December 10, 2026 |
Sources for this section: Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx · National Participation Legislation Center, advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Ministry of National Defense Public Notice No. 2026-5485) · National Law Information Center, current Public Officials Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 36728, in force October 2, 2026)
Who in the disciplinary committee may view the transferred investigative records?
Paragraph (3) of Article 59 of the Military Personnel Act requires the disciplinary committee to give the person subject to deliberation a sufficient opportunity to make statements in writing or orally, and subparagraph 4 of paragraph (5) requires that the right of the person subject to deliberation to state or submit opinions before and during deliberation be notified in writing. If investigation materials are used as grounds for discipline, the person subject to deliberation must know their content in order to rebut them. Yet statement records of related persons contain the identities and statements of victims or witnesses.
The draft does not prescribe inspection of the transferred materials, provision of copies, retention periods, or the prohibition of use beyond disciplinary purposes. Current paragraph (3) of Article 22-3 imposes a duty not to disclose on the victim who has been notified of the result, but there is no comparable provision for the unit or disciplinary committee that has received investigation materials. Whether this is intended to be left to a Ministry of National Defense Ordinance or to internal rules is not made clear in the draft notice.
The defense of the person subject to deliberation and the protection of related persons collide on the same records. If the draft widens the scope of request to include statement records of related persons, should not the extent to which those records are shown to the person subject to deliberation and the manner in which the identities of victims and witnesses are masked be fixed at the level of the Decree?
Sources for this section: National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Management Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026) · National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 34625, in force July 2, 2024) · Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx
Do the prosecution office and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency fall within the phrase "prosecution, police, and other investigative agencies"?
Paragraph (1) of Article 59-3 of the Military Personnel Act as of the reference date and paragraph (4) scheduled to take effect list, as agencies from which materials are requested, the Board of Audit and Inspection, the prosecution office or military prosecution, military judicial police officers, and other investigative agencies. Subparagraph 2 of Article 8-3 of the Decree on the Discipline of Public Officials names the prosecution office, the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and police, and other investigative agencies. By contrast, subparagraph 3 of Article 8-2 of the draft writes "prosecution, police, and other investigative agencies," and states the parties for consultation as the Prosecutor General, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and other heads of investigative agencies.
It is possible to read the phrase "other investigative agencies" as including the Serious Crime Investigation Agency. However, if the Decree writes the prosecution office, which the higher-ranking statute names, as "prosecution," it becomes blurred how the documents of the agency that decided whether to institute a public prosecution (indictments and written decisions not to indict) and the documents of the agency that conducted the investigation are distinguished within the same subparagraph. Nor does the list in the draft show which documents of which agency constitute the materials related to maintaining a public prosecution that the parentheses in paragraph (4) of the Act state are included.
The Decree on the Discipline of Public Officials has already written agency names to fit the new organization. The draft Decree on Disciplinary Actions against Military Personnel does not name the prosecution office or the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, based on the notice screen and the file. The question is whether the agency names will be aligned with the higher-ranking statute and the Decree on the Discipline of Public Officials, and how the materials related to maintaining a public prosecution, which the Act separately states, will be listed as documents.
Sources for this section: National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Management Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026) · National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026) · National Law Information Center, current Public Officials Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 36728, in force October 2, 2026) · Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx
Who are the victims of abusive conduct within the military, and what if the victim is a company or an agency?
Subparagraph 3 of paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the Act makes conduct prescribed by Presidential Decree — consisting of unfair treatment of another soldier, etc. or infliction of physical or mental pain — a ground for notification. The subparagraphs of Article 13-3 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials brought in by subparagraph 1 of paragraph (5) of Article 22-3 of the draft include: conduct that unfairly delays the receipt of applications for permits or licenses; conduct that gives unfair instructions to public officials related to duties; conduct that unfairly shifts burdens onto a contracting party; and conduct that unfairly shifts work and expenses onto the affiliated agency, a public institution, or an organization related to public service. The draft limits this to cases where the victim is an individual.
Subparagraph 19 of paragraph (2) of Article 20, drawn on by subparagraph 2 of paragraph (5) of Article 22-3 of the draft, targets other public officials, employees of related units, agencies, and organizations, and persons related to duties under the Code of Conduct for Public Officials (where a corporation or organization, its affiliated employees). Subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Code of Conduct defines persons related to duties as individuals or corporations and organizations, such as persons filing civil petitions, persons contracting with the State, and persons subject to investigation or supervision, so civil petitioners who are not military personnel and employees of transacting parties may also fall within it. Whether the Act's "other soldier, etc." reaches this extent is not clear from the statutory text alone, and the draft notice does not explain this.
Limiting the provision to cases where the victim is an individual excludes from the scope of notification cases in which a company or public institution that is a contracting party suffers an unfair shifting of burdens. If an employee of that company actually suffered pain, the case may fall outside subparagraph 1 but within subparagraph 2. Notification occurs only at the request of the victim, so the manner of determining who the victim is immediately determines who may make the request. How will the Decree align the scope of "other soldier, etc." stated in the Act with the criterion for determining cases where the victim is an individual?
Sources for this section: National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026) · Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx · National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 34625, in force July 2, 2024) · National Law Information Center, current Code of Conduct for Public Officials (Presidential Decree No. 32661, in force June 2, 2022)
Commencement and remaining issues
The supplementary provisions state that the Decree takes effect on the date of its promulgation. The reasons by article explain the grounds for delegation by reference to statutory provisions scheduled to take effect on December 10, 2026. If the Decree is promulgated before then, Article 8-2 and paragraph (5) of Article 22-3 of the draft will cite statutory provisions not yet in force, and the subparagraphs of paragraph (8) of Article 59 of the Act cited by paragraph (1) of Article 22-3 of the draft are not divided into subparagraphs under the current Act. Whether the date of promulgation will be aligned with the effective date of the Act, or whether an effective date will be separately stated in the supplementary provisions, is not shown in the draft notice. The proposed effective condition is not a fixed date.
There are no transitional measures in the Decree either. It is not stated in the Decree whether materials may be requested in cases where notification of the conclusion of an investigation was received before the Act took effect but the disciplinary procedure is commenced after it took effect, or whether abusive conduct committed before the effective date that results in a disciplinary disposition after the effective date becomes subject to notification. This text has not read the supplementary provisions of Act No. 21765, and therefore could not confirm whether the Act's supplementary provisions contain application rules.
This text has not read the content of the legislative opinion, the draft statute in PDF format, the written confirmation of non-attachment of a regulatory impact analysis, the review report and minutes of the National Defense Committee, Ministry of National Defense Ordinances and the regulations of each service, or other statutes restricting the provision of investigative records. It neither supports nor opposes the draft notice and does not predict the outcome of processing.
Sources for this section: Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx · Statement of reasons for enactment and amendment by provision attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, PDF · National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026) · National Participation Legislation Center, advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Ministry of National Defense Public Notice No. 2026-5485)
Sources and verification notes
- National Participation Legislation Center, advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Ministry of National Defense Public Notice No. 2026-5485) ↗
The notice number, notice date, submission period and days remaining, competent division, reasons for amendment, main contents, list of attachments, and the displayed number of legislative opinions on the notice screen were read. The content of the legislative opinions was not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - Draft attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, hwpx ↗
The cover sheet, reasons for the proposal, main contents, reference matters, amendment text, addenda and comparison table of old and new provisions were read. The PDF version on the same screen and the confirmation of non-attachment of a regulatory impact analysis were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - Statement of reasons for enactment and amendment by provision attached to the advance legislative notice: Partial Amendment Decree (Draft) to the Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree, PDF ↗
The columns on reasons for enactment and amendment, content, main points discussed, and legislative effect for the three amendment items were read. The explanation of the entry-into-force date of the delegating Act was treated only as stated in this document.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Participation Legislation Center, National Assembly legislative status: Partial Amendment Bill to the Military Personnel Management Act (Alternative) (No. 2218508) ↗
The sponsorship information, the reasons for the proposal and main contents of the alternative, the processing entries for the competent committee, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session, the date of transmission to the Government, and the promulgation number were read. The original bill, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee documents and the examination report were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, Military Personnel Management Act scheduled to enter into force (Act No. 21765, in force December 10, 2026) ↗
Articles 59 and 59-3 were read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. The addenda and other provisions of this version were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Management Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026) ↗
Articles 59, 59-3 and 64 were read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. The provisions on types of disciplinary action and the composition of disciplinary committees were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, current Military Personnel Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 34625, in force July 2, 2024) ↗
Articles 8, 20 and 22-3 were read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. The provisions on deliberation procedures of disciplinary committees and the forms prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of National Defense were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, current Public Officials Disciplinary Decree (Presidential Decree No. 36728, in force October 2, 2026) ↗
Articles 8-2 and 8-3 were read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. The amendment history of these provisions and the materials determined through consultation were not examined.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, current State Public Officials Act (Act No. 21857, in force October 2, 2026) ↗
Article 83 was read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. Other disciplinary provisions were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16 - National Law Information Center, current Code of Conduct for Public Officials (Presidential Decree No. 32661, in force June 2, 2022) ↗
Articles 2 and 13-3 were read on the article view under the same lsiSeq. Subparagraph 1 of Article 2 defines persons related to duties as individuals, or corporations or organisations, such as applicants for civil petitions and contractual counterparties. Other provisions of this Code were not read.
Checked 2026-10-16
General information and research commentary, not legal advice. Each entry identifies its facts, assumptions and sources.
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