President Lee Jae-myung on the 25th ordered the creation of a body to reform the police, saying, "The police may become the most powerful of all state institutions going forward."
At a Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office that day, Lee pointed to allegations of a cover-up in a missing-person case on Jeju Island, saying, "Recently, problems of lax discipline in the police and irresponsibility on public safety have emerged as quite serious issues." He added, "The police are a state institution where the chain of command matters greatly, and command responsibility is very important. If frontline officers make mistakes and the matter ends with only disciplining those frontline officers, then what is the chain of command even needed for?" He went on to stress that command responsibility would also be strictly held to account, saying, "There is authority to command, but on the other hand one must of course bear responsibility commensurate with that authority."
Lee said in particular, "Power always causes bigger problems when it is concentrated. Even the same problem has a greater impact when authority grows larger. That is why responsibility must be strengthened in proportion to the scale of authority." He noted, "The police may become the most powerful of all state institutions going forward. Our people's concerns about that are very great."
Lee added, "Because doubts arise over whether they can adequately carry out this great authority and the responsibility that comes with it, I ask you to consider how to reform the police going forward and to think about a police reform body." He continued, "I hope the Prime Minister's Office will step forward and devise a plan, starting with how to proceed, through broad gathering of public opinion."
