Korean police will notify drivers of traffic fines through mobile platforms such as KakaoTalk and introduce a system allowing people to be questioned via video without visiting a police station, part of a push to improve public safety services that citizens can experience in daily life.
The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) said Monday it had selected 14 everyday, life-oriented "public-focused initiatives" and would begin full implementation to reduce inconvenience and improve the convenience of public safety services.
The initiatives were developed based on proposals from front-line police officers and ideas gathered from various KNPA departments. They are grouped into four areas—convenience in handling civil complaints, convenience in investigations, the right to know, and public safety—and police said tasks that citizens can tangibly experience were given priority.
A flagship initiative is a service for mobile notification of traffic fines and viewing of violation footage. Currently, only a paper notice and a single violation photo are sent by mail, and viewing the violation footage requires a visit to a police station. Going forward, people will receive fine notices through KakaoTalk alert messages and other channels, and can immediately view the violation footage after identity verification via a QR code.
Police plan to introduce the service after a pilot operation in November this year. Through this, police expect to reduce unpaid fines and cut the cost of sending paper mail.
A remote video investigation system that allows people to be questioned without visiting a police station in person will also be introduced within this year. It is currently being piloted nationwide for witnesses, and once the system is formally implemented, witnesses will be able to participate in investigations remotely from home or work using smartphones, tablets, and PCs. To continuously address problems that emerge during the pilot operation, police also plan to prepare work guidelines for remote video investigations by the second half of this year.
A service that proactively notifies victims by text message when members of overseas phishing organizations are repatriated to Korea will also be introduced this month. Until now, victims had to learn of a suspect's repatriation through media reports and then contact the investigator in charge directly to check whether it related to their own case. Going forward, police will first provide information on the arrest and repatriation, points of contact, and victim support.
When large-scale overseas phishing organizations are forcibly repatriated, the KNPA's Integrated Response Team for Telecommunications and Financial Fraud (1394) will first send victims a text message with information on the arrest and repatriation, contact points for inquiries about case progress, and guidance on victim support.
Incident confirmation certificates will also be improved so they can be issued online without visiting a police station. The KNPA plans to introduce the service in the first half of 2027 after developing the related system. As of last year, the number of certificates issued annually reached about 220,000.
In addition, police will pursue an online rally notification system, mobile notification of fines for minor offenses, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based police civil complaint service called "Everyone's Police Officer," improvements to the location-tracking system for stalking perpetrators and victims, faster procedures for deleting and blocking digital sexual exploitation material, and the establishment of an automatic entry system at apartment building main entrances.
Yoo Jae-sung, acting commissioner general of the KNPA, said, "For public-focused initiatives, it is more important than anything that citizens directly experience change in their daily lives." He added, "We will carefully examine inconveniences from the citizens' perspective and actively reflect voices from the field to continuously create police services that citizens can experience."
