The issue of how to coordinate investigative authority between the prosecution and the police is resurfacing as major presidential candidates have expressed their intent to address it as part of campaign pledges to reform the prosecution.

For the past decades, the two powerful agencies have been at the loggerheads over whether to allow the police independent investigative rights.

The latest clash came last year when a parliamentary committee on judicial reform pushed to revise the code of criminal procedure to grant police officers the authority to undertake investigations independently. Then Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu stepped down in protest against the passage of the revision bill. The police, for their part, were not content with the revision, which still allowed prosecutors to direct police investigations.

The three major contenders for the Dec. 19 presidential election appear to be in favor of the police as they have raised common voices for the need to reform the prosecution to ensure politically neutral probes and reduce the powers and privileges of prosecutors.

Timed for Police Day, which fell on Sunday, they put forward pledges tailored to court the police force.

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the presidential nominee of the conservative ruling Saenuri Party, told a news conference Friday that she would forge the stable public security system the people wish for by “adjusting the relationship between the police and the prosecution to make them monitor and check against each other.”

Rep. Moon Jae-in, Park’s rival from the liberal main opposition Democratic United Party, has been more active in expanding investigative authority for the police. During his visit to a police station in Seoul on Friday, Moon said the law should be changed to grant investigative rights to the police with prosecutors devoted to the process of prosecution. Aides to him say that the prosecution may still be allowed to conduct its own probes into some specific cases.

Ahn Cheol-soo, a software mogul-turned-professor who is running as an independent candidate, has also expressed his support for weakening the prosecution’s authority.

There should be serious debate on how to ensure effective and responsible investigations, but the recent attention paid by presidential contenders to the matter is mainly seen as an attempt to court votes from Korea’s more than 100,000 police officers ahead of what looks to be a close-run presidential election. Park and Moon pledged that they would increase the number of police officers by 20,000 and 30,000, respectively, if elected.

From a long-term viewpoint, it may appear suitable to separate the rights for prosecution and investigation between the two agencies, as has been practiced in many advanced nations. The prosecution’s argument that changing the law revised only a year ago would destabilize the legal system does not sound persuasive, considering the need to let the public benefit from a more effective and efficient investigation process.

But putting an end to the issue will take specific and in-depth discussion over a sufficient time span ― well into the next presidency. It is not the kind of matter that presidential contenders seek to use to win the support of a certain state institution. If it proves that their suggestions are not backed by concrete ideas and firm will to implement them, they would only backfire.

It is more immediate and important that the presidential candidates and the two agencies ensure that prosecutors and police officers do the utmost to carry out their duties, rather than preoccupying themselves with enlarging their authority and protecting vested rights.

The prosecution should realize that its politically biased investigations into cases involving presidential associates and top politicians have amplified the calls to limit its powers. The police also have a lot to do to ensure public confidence, as they have been inefficient and negligent in fighting a rising number of felonies, more and more of which are happening in people’s homes.