When your home or office is searched

When investigators hand you a warrant, take a breath first. You cannot stop the search, but what you check now becomes the basis for any challenge later.

• Ask to see the warrant and get a copy. A search and seizure warrant (압수수색영장) must be shown to the person subject to it, and the suspect must be given a copy (Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법) Articles 118 and 219).
• Note the allegation, the items to be seized, the places to be searched and the validity period written on the warrant.
• Contact a lawyer and ask the investigators to wait a moment until the lawyer arrives. The suspect and the lawyer may be present during the search (Article 121).
• Check what each item being taken is, and when it is over, get the list of seized items (압수목록) (Article 129). If the list does not match what was taken, say so on the spot.
• At a company, the CEO or the manager in charge should be present, and you can ask that copies of files essential for business be left behind.

Physically blocking investigators or hiding items can turn into obstruction of official duties or destruction of evidence. If you think they are going beyond the warrant, do not block them; state your objection in words and write it down.

Do not explain the case at length on the spot. What you say to investigators can be written into an investigation report. If you are asked to unlock your phone or give your password, talk to your lawyer before agreeing. Also avoid deleting remaining data after the search. Traces of deletion are often left too.

At a company, check the warrant to see whether employees' personal phones are also covered. If they ask for the device of someone not named in the warrant, ask whether it is a request for voluntary submission; that person decides whether to hand it over.

When seizing a phone or computer, the rule is to set the scope of information related to the allegation and print or copy only that. The whole device can be taken only when this is impossible or would make it extremely difficult to achieve the purpose of the seizure (Criminal Procedure Act Articles 106(3) and 219; Investigation Rules (수사준칙) Article 41).

If a device is taken, the police extract and sort the electronic data at the station in a forensic process. Investigators must respect the right of the person whose items were seized, or their lawyer, to be present throughout, and when sorting is finished they must hand over a list of the electronic data seized. Data not on the list must be deleted or returned (Investigation Rules Article 42). Also check whether data stored outside the device, such as cloud or messenger backups, is named in the warrant.

You are usually contacted separately about the forensics schedule. If you attend, you can see on the spot whether photos, conversations or work files unrelated to the allegation in the warrant are being selected. If they try to take unrelated data, object and have it noted in the record. When you attend, bring the warrant copy and the list of seized items, and judge against the allegation and the period stated in the warrant.

If you choose not to attend, you only learn later from the list what data was selected. Depending on the case, analysis can take quite a long time, and you will be without your phone in the meantime.

If there is no need to keep holding an item, you can get it back (환부). Even an item to be used as evidence can be returned quickly on a provisional basis if the owner needs to keep using it, after its original state is preserved by photographs or similar (가환부; Criminal Procedure Act Article 218-2). Consider this for a work laptop or phone. If you disagree with an investigator's decision on seizure or return, you can ask the court to cancel or change it (준항고; Article 417).

A search is usually followed by a request to appear for questioning as a suspect. The questions will be based on the seized materials, so it helps to sort out what was in them before the questioning.

When you contact us, we attend the search to check the scope of the warrant and how items are seized. If a phone or computer was taken, we apply to attend the forensics and raise objections to data beyond the scope during selection.

For the questioning that follows, we practise likely questions with you and go in with you. If investigators are already at your door, message us through the chat on this page right away. You can message us on weekends and public holidays too.