Kim Ji-yong, head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, and Kim Jong-cheol, acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency talk at the Blue House in central Seoul on Oct. 20.NEWS1
Moon Byung-joo
The author is an editor of social affairs at the JoongAng Ilbo.
Is the position considered unnecessary, or is there simply no one trustworthy enough to fill it? That is the question as the 140,000-member National Police Agency remains without a chief.
The commissioner general undergoes a National Assembly confirmation hearing, but parliamentary consent is not required, so the president can appoint one quickly. After former Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho was suspended over his involvement in the martial-law affair, his dismissal following the Constitutional Court’s decision on Dec. 18 last year was unavoidable. But the acting-leadership system has continued for more than 10 months since then.
In any organization, an acting system is supposed to be temporary and used only when unavoidable. Political posts also have legal mechanisms to minimize vacancies.
Troubling incidents involving police are occurring nationwide. Suspicions have emerged that police covered up the murder of a female high school student in Gwangju, Gwangju-Jeonnam. Stalking- and dating-violence-related murders occurred in Jeju, North Jeolla and Incheon, with passive police response cited as one contributing factor. Police may be a “punching bag,” but they are also best positioned to prevent and respond to them. President Lee Jae Myung ordered at an advisers’ meeting on Thursday that “special measures must be drawn up swiftly, with the resolve to declare war on violent crimes such as relationship-based crimes and indiscriminate crimes against the public.” The police stand at the core of that mission.
There is growing talk that the prolonged acting system reflects President Lee’s micromanaging style of governance: the belief that the presidential office can identify citizens’ difficulties caused by an imperfect criminal justice system and direct improvements one by one. Having Kim Ji-yong, head of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency (SCIA), attend the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday is an example. President Lee said on Oct. 13 that “as head of the government, the president directs and supervises the heads of all central administrative agencies in accordance with the law” and that “it is very important for investigative and prosecutorial agencies to share the general direction and policies of state affairs.”
After Cho was dismissed, Deputy Commissioner General Yoo Jae-seong served as acting police chief for one year and three months, the longest such tenure in police history. But on Sept. 3, Deputy Commissioner General Kim Jong-cheol took over. With the Prosecutors’ Office abolished and the SCIA and Prosecution Service launched, discontent and anxiety are growing.
The police chief appointment has been pushed to the bottom of the list. Noh Man-seok and Koo Ja-hyun also resigned amid disputes over the Daejang-dong appeal and prosecutors’ supplementary investigation powers. After an “acting chief of an acting chief” arrangement, Lee Jung-hyun took over last month as acting head of the Prosecution Service. He may decide whether to withdraw indictments in cases involving President Lee.
The Prosecution Service’s candidate recommendation committee has begun operating. Critics have linked the Democratic Party of Korea’s special prosecutor bill on fabricated prosecutions to the criminal justice agencies’ acting systems. “If they want someone to handle withdrawing indictments in cases involving President Lee, they need acting chiefs who will listen,” said Jang Dong-hyeok, leader of the People Power Party, on Thursday. Analysts say police chief candidates are undergoing a kind of vetting period.
An acting system generally focuses on maintaining the status quo rather than setting new goals or driving organizational change. It tends to prioritize the goals of those above over employees’ rights and voices. That is why the clock for positive change stops working properly.
Perhaps the police chief is considered unnecessary, or perhaps there is no one the president can truly trust. But the police are the first people they turn to when they are stalked or when a violent criminal runs amok. As the criminal justice system changes, the police need an official “head” to set their stopped clock moving again.
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.
