Jeju Autonomous Police Marks Nation's First 20th Anniversary, Leading Standard for Dual Model

Sharing 20 Years of Jeju-Style Tailored Policing Achievements
Emphasizing the Case for Designating Jeju as a Pilot Area for the Dual Autonomous Police System
Proposing Joint Use of Facilities and 112 Infrastructure with State Police as an Alternative

As the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Autonomous Police Agency celebrates its 20th anniversary, it held a large-scale joint forum involving the public sector, private sector, and academia to objectively share the achievements of its regionally tailored policing services over the past two decades and to proactively respond to the government's upcoming full implementation of a dual autonomous police system.

The Jeju Autonomous Police Agency held a discussion forum on the morning of the 16th at Maison Glad Jeju, attended by Jeju Governor Oh Young-hoon, Provincial Council Chairman Lee Sang-bong, Chair of the Autonomous Police Committee Park Young-bu, Jeju Police Chief Ko Pyung-gi, as well as over 150 officials from city and provincial governments across the country and academic experts. The forum focused on the "20 Years of Achievements and Future Development Plans of Jeju Autonomous Police," and a commemorative photo was taken. [Provided by Jeju Autonomous Police Agency]

The Jeju Autonomous Police Agency announced that on the morning of the 16th, it hosted a forum on "20 Years of Achievements and Future Development Plans for Jeju Autonomous Police" at Maison Glad Jeju. The event was attended by Jeju Governor Oh Young-hoon, Lee Sangbong, Chair of the Provincial Council, Park Youngbu, Chairman of the Autonomous Police Committee, Ko Pyeonggi, Chief of Jeju Police Agency, as well as over 150 officials from cities and provinces nationwide and academic experts.

The forum was designed as a platform for open discussion to objectively reflect on the unique achievements and limitations in public safety since the establishment of autonomous policing, and to position Jeju as the leading benchmark for local autonomy in Korea as the government prepares to fully implement the dual-model system.

In his opening remarks, Governor Oh Young-hoon stated, "Without the challenges and dedication of the Jeju Autonomous Police Agency over the past 20 years, it would have been difficult for the government's dual autonomous police system to even reach the current stage of implementation," emphasizing, "As the system is expanded nationwide, Jeju must remain at the forefront in leading the standard model."

Governor Oh also highlighted key achievements since the launch of the 8th popularly elected administration, including an increase of 20 police personnel, the introduction and expansion of the School Safety Police Officer (SPO) system to six schools, the establishment of an emergency vehicle priority signal system at 1,100 intersections in the province, and the reinvestment of traffic violation fine revenues into modernization of traffic facilities—the first such initiative in Korea—offering practical examples of safety innovations experienced by residents.

In the subsequent thematic presentation, Oh Chungik, Chief of the Jeju Autonomous Police Agency, presented on "20 Years of Achievements of Jeju Autonomous Police and Suggestions for Implementing the Dual Autonomous Police System," elaborating on the Jeju-specific model such as traffic facility reviews and operation of integrated administrative safety centers, while also clearly outlining its limitations.

Chief Oh asserted, "Jeju, as the only region to have maintained a local government-affiliated autonomous police organization for 20 years, must be included as a pilot area for the dual autonomous police system." He proposed a "cost-saving collaborative operation model" as a government policy alternative, under which existing infrastructure such as office buildings, 112 emergency management, and IT systems would be shared to reduce functional overlaps and confusion between state and local police.

This 20th anniversary forum is being interpreted as a pivotal policy moment to shift away from a centralized, uniform public safety administration paradigm and to spread Jeju's "legacy of successful local autonomy," which has strengthened community-based safety networks, throughout the nation.

In particular, by proactively presenting a genuine "dual system roadmap"—which includes transferring practical autonomous functions such as public safety, traffic, women, and youth affairs, as well as the investigative authority of special judicial police, entirely to local governments—Jeju is being recognized as setting the foundation to lead the era of Local Autonomy 2.0 in conjunction with future administrative system reforms, overcoming the limitations of the current autonomous police structure, which is subordinated to the state police, as pointed out by academic experts.

During the forum, Professor Hwang Moonkyu from Joongbu University proposed the necessity for substantial transfer of functions, and Professor Yoon Dongho from Kookmin University presented measures to advance special judicial police. This was followed by a passionate panel discussion among academic and related agency representatives. An official from the Jeju Autonomous Police Agency said, "Based on the multifaceted expert opinions gathered at today's event, we will actively reflect Jeju's perspective in the government's system design for the dual autonomous police system and establish a proactive response framework from the very beginning."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.