Disciplinary action against 354 police officers reduced, revoked in past five years
As officers and senior commanders alike have been increasingly caught engaging in misconduct or mishandling cases, calls from both within the force and from the public to make disciplinary action stick have grown louder.
Acting Commissioner General Yoo Jae-seong of the Korean National Police Agency, bowing at far right, and other senior officers apologize to the public over the false closure of missing persons cases on Jeju at a leadership meeting at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Aug. 26.YONHAP
Disciplinary action against 354 police officers was reduced, revoked or declared invalid upon appeal between 2021 and 2025, according to National Police Agency data submitted to a lawmaker on Sunday.
The police often promise to enact “strict discipline” on those responsible when cases of misconduct or corruption break. But how often those penalties are then undone has raised questions about the disciplinary system.
Of the 354 officers, the Appeals Commission reduced the penalties for 331 of them: 73 in 2021, 59 in 2022, 48 in 2023, 76 in 2024 and 75 last year, according to data requested by Rep. Park Sang-woong of the People Power Party, who sits on the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee.
The commission revoked or voided the penalties of another 23 officers over the same period.
Public officials can challenge a disciplinary or another unfavorable personnel decision through the appeals system. The Appeals Commission, which sits under the Ministry of Personnel Management, examines their case and can revoke or change any punishment imposed. An officer cannot file a lawsuit against a penalty decision without going through the commission first.
Officers are using the system more. The commission handled 411 appeals involving police officers last year, up 34.3 percent from 306 in 2021. The caseload dipped to 305 in 2022 before climbing to 390 in 2023 and 393 in 2024.
Some officers have even used the process to keep their jobs. An officer in Gwangju who drank, crashed a car and fled the scene in 2024 was initially dismissed from the force, but the commission lessened that penalty to a demotion.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Police Agency Commissioner Ko Pyeong-ki apologizes during a senior officials' meeting at the agency's headquarters on Aug. 27 after multiple missing persons cases, including that of Jang Mi-ran, were found to have been falsely closed.NEWS1
Officers who clear the commission can then go to court, and some do. Police have lost administrative suits and had penalties imposed on officers canceled or had to hand down fresh disciplinary action after such cancellations in 28 cases over the five years. That was four officers in 2021, 11 in 2022, five in 2023, six in 2024 and two last year.
As frontline officers and senior commanders alike have increasingly been caught engaging in misconduct or mishandling cases, calls from both within the force and from the public to make police discipline stick have grown louder.
On Jeju Island, an officer was recently detained after falsely closing the missing persons case involving Jang Mi-ran, who was reported missing in May and was later found dead. He closed the case about two and a half hours after the report came in without actually checking or verifying whether she was safe.
In the case of Jang Yun-gi, who was indicted over allegedly stabbing a high school student to death in Gwangju, the authorities failed to secure key evidence. They also leaked information about the investigation to Jang Yun-gi’s father, a serving police officer.
In Gyeonggi, a married police station chief was caught living with a subordinate at official police-only housing. The chief was suspended for three months for breaching the code of conduct, among other grounds.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Police Agency Commissioner Ko Pyeong-ki, front, apologizes during a senior officials' meeting at the agency's headquarters on Aug. 27 after multiple missing persons cases, including that of Jang Mi-ran, were found to have been falsely closed.NEWS1
“The fact that instances of misconduct keep occurring means that the collapse of the disciplinary system within the police force is already serious,” PPP lawmaker Park said. “Before the police demand [lawfulness] from the public, they should set their own house in order and hold people accountable regardless of their rank.”
The repeated reductions and revocations have more to do with the initial decision rather than the appeal, according to experts.
"[Penalties] reduced on appeal again and again means judgment at the original stage was inaccurate,” Lee Woong-hyuk, a police science professor at Konkuk University, told the Yonhap News Agency. “Checking the officer’s explanation [for their misbehavior] carefully from the start and imposing a penalty that fits the facts and the degree of responsibility are what make disciplinary action credible.”
Prof. Lee also noted that in cases under heavy public scrutiny, pressure pushes higher-ups to deal out heavier punishments sooner rather than later.
“For cases in which the press is watching, police tend to punish [offenders] heavily at first because a light decision risks criticism about how the police are protecting their own,” he said. “Punishing a few offenders harshly may also be a method for stopping the problem spreading to the rest of the organization.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
