Acting Police Chief: "Restoring Public Trust Is the Most Urgent Task"

Emphasis on Gathering Input from the Field for Direction of Police Reform
Rotating Assignment System to Be Rationalized to Ease Burden on Officers

The Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency has presented "restoring public trust" as the first step toward police reform. He emphasized that a variety of measures to establish fairness, including the rotation personnel system, will be implemented after sufficiently gathering feedback from police officers in the field.

Kim Jongchul, Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency. Yonhap News Agency

At his first press conference on September 14, Kim Jongchul, Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency, stated, "The most urgent task is to restore the public’s trust," and added, "Although police activities and efforts may still fall short from the public’s perspective, please understand that we are making efforts to bring about change with a deep sense of determination."

Acting Commissioner Kim made it clear that the process of police misconduct being exposed must not result in a decline in the morale of the entire organization. He remarked, "It is true that morale among front-line officers has dropped considerably in recent times," and added, "The morale of the organization is directly linked to public safety, and the police leadership is taking this very seriously." He further said, "There were also issues with the system that failed to properly filter out problems in a series of incidents, and accountability of the leadership that did not manage or supervise adequately," and added, "We accept this gravely and will strive to correct it."

Upon taking office, Acting Commissioner Kim spoke of restructuring and commented, "We urgently need to improve our response to missing person cases and the protection of socially vulnerable groups and victims." He continued, "As the structure of police investigations changes due to amendments in the Criminal Procedure Act, we are working on securing expertise, accountability, and fairness in police investigations."

There were also concerns raised about the proliferation of reform-related bodies, such as the organization to be established under the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the ruling party's own police reform organization, and the Police Reform Task Force within the National Police Agency. Acting Commissioner Kim stated, "Basically, the Reform Task Force will actively communicate with outside bodies for effective discussions and serve as a channel to convey the diverse voices from the field." He explained, "We are focused on identifying and improving internal tasks—such as how the police work, organizational culture, and addressing irregularities—within the scope that does not conflict with external reform bodies."

Regarding the plan to expand the rotation personnel system—which has caused the greatest concern on the ground—he reiterated that "opinions from the field" would be prioritized above all else. "If the rotation personnel system is expanded, it will have a significant impact on individuals’ lives, including changes to their residential area, childcare, and long commute distances," he said. "I believe we should primarily listen carefully to feedback from the field." He added, "Ultimately, the goal of expanding the rotation system is to strengthen supervision over police work. We will seek reasonable measures to ensure fairness while making sure that excessive burdens are not imposed on staff in the field."

With the abolition of the prosecutor’s office, approximately 1,907 additional investigative personnel were brought in during the first half of this year, and about 2,100 more are scheduled to be assigned to investigation departments in the second half. Some of these will be new hires, while others will result from reallocating personnel due to reductions in the mobile police units.

Acting Commissioner Kim commented, "I am hearing, through various channels, concerns and anxieties among investigation officers as the investigative system undergoes fundamental transformation." He continued, "If necessary, we plan to implement further increases in personnel decisively." He also noted, "There may be differences by case depending on the complexity of individual investigations within investigative departments," and added, "We are considering the appropriate number of cases per person and the annual processing volume to absorb personnel in various ways."

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