What does 검수완박 (geomsuwanbak) mean? How a four-syllable nickname beat a bill's real name

In spring 2022, the same four syllables ran across Korean news tickers every day: 검, 수, 완, 박. The bill's formal name was “Partial Amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act,” which almost nobody remembers. This issue is about a case where the nickname got famous before the law did.

There's a reason to look it up again now. In July 2026 an amendment ending prosecutors' supplementary investigation power passed the National Assembly, and Newsis headlined its story “검수완박 finally becomes reality.” Then on October 2, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office closed after 78 years (YTN).

Both Segye Ilbo and Seoul Shinmun spell it out as “complete removal of the prosecution's investigative power.” Yet the 2022 amendments weren't actually a “complete” removal. According to Seoul Shinmun, prosecutors' direct investigations shrank from six crime categories (corruption, public officials, elections, defense procurement, major disasters, economic crime) to two (corruption and economic crime). That gap between name and content is where the fight over the word began.

• 검수완박 법안이 오늘 본회의를 통과했습니다The 검수완박 bill passed the plenary session today.Breaking news, spring 2022
• 그걸 검수완박이라고 부르는 순간 이미 입장이 들어가 있는 거야The moment you call it 검수완박, you've already taken a side.A student debate club
• 검수완박 이후로 사건 처리가 빨라졌는지 느려졌는지 데이터가 궁금하다I'd like data on whether cases got faster or slower after 검수완박.Law school study group
• 검수완박이 검은 수리부엉이 얘기인 줄 알았어I thought 검수완박 was something about a black eagle owl.A high schooler seeing the news for the first time
• 이번 개정으로 검수완박이 마무리됐다는 평가와 아직 보완이 필요하다는 평가가 엇갈린다Opinions split on whether this amendment completes 검수완박 or still needs fixes.An explainer, summer 2026

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported in April 2022 that the term started in January 2021 among hardline Democratic Party supporters, so at first it was a rallying cry for the reform. Once the bill moved forward, that flipped. NewsTomato's analysis says then President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and the People Power Party used 검수완박 to define the Democrats' plan in negative terms, and the label became the media's default.

Some Democrats distanced themselves from it. According to Kyunghyang, lawmaker Park Chan-dae said the term “isn't accurate” and asked people to stop using provocative language, while the party promoted “separating investigation and indictment” and “normalizing the prosecution.” The People Power Party, for its part, called it a “shield law for Lee Jae-myung” (Segye Ilbo). One bill, at least four names.

One: it's short. “Partial Amendment to the Prosecutors' Office Act and Criminal Procedure Act” doesn't fit on a news ticker. Four syllables do. As with most Korean political abbreviations, the shortest name lasts longest.

Two: the verdict is in the name. “Complete removal” sounds like something being taken away; “normalization” sounds like putting things back. Which name you used became a way of signaling which side you were on. NewsTomato called it a “frame war.”

Three: the fight never ended. On March 23, 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled 5–4 that the judiciary committee's handling of the bill infringed People Power Party lawmakers' rights to deliberate and vote, but rejected 5–4 the request to void the laws (Law Times). Petitions by the justice minister and prosecutors were dismissed. Both sides could claim a points win, and the word lived on.

In April 2022 NewsTomato set two polls from the same period side by side. When Realmeter, commissioned by Energy Economic News, asked about “completely removing the prosecution's investigative power,” more people opposed it. When Media Tomato asked around the same time about separating prosecutors' investigative and indictment powers, more people supported it. Experts quoted in the article attributed the gap to question wording.

The two polls differ in pollster, wording and sample, so the numbers can't be compared directly. They do show what can happen when a political label goes straight into a survey question. NewsTomato quoted linguist George Lakoff here: if the facts don't fit the frame, the frame stays and the facts bounce off.

The 2022 laws took effect that September (Seoul Shinmun). In July 2026 an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act ended prosecutors' supplementary investigation power and made the police the sole investigative body. Newsis described it as completing 검수완박, while also reporting that 62 criminal law scholars called for keeping the supplementary power and that the justice ministry had told the Assembly about 18 kinds of cases that requests alone can't resolve. On October 2 the Supreme Prosecutors' Office was abolished, and a Public Prosecution Office and a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency opened (YTN). A word once fought over as a name now marks a chapter in how the system actually changed. For another political abbreviation, see 내로남불 (naeronambul, “double standards”).

So 검수완박 is a case of a nickname beating a bill's official name. What you call it is your call, but it helps to know what each name carries. For a word about political fandoms, see 개딸 (gaettal). And if you have a sharper definition, add it to the 검수완박 entry in the dictionary.