With public trust shaken by a string of police misconduct cases, including the false closure of a missing-person case on Jeju Island, participants at a forum hosted by the ruling bloc argued that South Korea should consider police reforms aimed at giving real authority to the National Police Commission and splitting the local police system into a two-track structure at the metropolitan and provincial level. The idea is that the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, which expands police investigative power, must be matched by democratic control and accountability.
The police reform forum, held on the 25th at the National Assembly members' office building by Democratic Party lawmakers Lee Kwang-hee, Park Ju-min, Kim Young-bae, Yoon Gun-young and Lim Ho-seon, along with Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in and Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Jeong Chun-saeng, discussed giving real authority to the National Police Commission, splitting local policing into two tracks and strengthening external oversight of investigative police as key reform tasks.
The core proposal is to convert the current unified local police system into a two-track structure at the metropolitan and provincial level. At present, local police retain their status as national police officers while handling only certain duties such as community safety, traffic and regional security, leaving the command and supervision structure centered on the national police. The reform plan focuses on dispersing police authority by clearly dividing the duties and organizations of the national police and local police.
Attorney Lee Chang-min argued at the forum that "while police authority has expanded significantly through the abolition of prosecutors' investigative powers and the transfer of anti-communist investigation authority, the oversight mechanisms to check this are inadequate," calling for a genuine shift to a local police system and external control over investigations. Lee also proposed converting police officers handling local policing duties into local government employees and having metropolitan and provincial police chiefs appointed by governors following a recommendation from local police commissions.
The need for external oversight of investigations by the National Office of Investigation was also discussed. The proposal calls for strengthening independence in personnel, organization and budget while establishing an independent external oversight body to monitor human rights violations, misconduct and flawed investigations. The rationale is that because the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority expands police investigative power, democratic control measures beyond internal audits are needed.
Some argued for establishing a nationwide audit and investigation body to prevent oversight gaps that could arise after local policing is split into two tracks. Hwang Mun-kyu, a professor at Joongbu University, noted that "it is difficult to manage regional-level collusion or human rights violations through metropolitan and provincial local police commissions alone," and pointed out that "a separate investigative body handling not only police investigations but overall national and local police duties is needed."
Strengthening control over intelligence police was also raised as a reform task. The argument is that the intelligence function as a whole should be restructured by clarifying the scope and procedures of intelligence gathering, strengthening monitoring of such activities and blocking politically motivated intelligence operations.
The recent series of flawed investigations and controversies over lax discipline also influenced these discussions on controlling police authority. As criticism grew over police accountability and investigative capacity following cases such as the false closure of the missing-person case involving Jang Mi-ran on Jeju Island, Lim Ho-seon, a former police officer, stressed that day: "The police still fail to fulfill their responsibilities. Now is the time to reflect on whether the police have been reborn as a democratic police force, and the time to take responsibility."
President Lee Jae-myung also said at a Cabinet meeting that day that the problems of lax police discipline and irresponsibility toward public safety were serious, and instructed officials to draw up police reform measures by broadly gathering public opinion. The Democratic Party plans to form a police reform task force led by lawmaker Kim Nam-hee and to review follow-up legislation reflecting input from experts, civil society and victims' groups.
Lawmaker Lee Kwang-hee said: "We will swiftly review and pursue key reform bills, including an amendment to the Police Act to give real authority to the National Police Commission."
