The suicide rate among South Korean police officers is more than double that of other public officials, according to the National Police Agency. The agency said it will sharply strengthen organization-level support, shortening the interval between officers' mental health checkups from every five years to every two and requiring all officers to receive counseling at least once a year.
The National Police Agency said on the 20th that it had drawn up its 2026 comprehensive plan to prevent suicide among police colleagues and would push ahead with an implementation schedule.
According to the agency, an average of 23 officers a year took their own lives over the past five years, from 2020 to 2024. Twenty-five officers died last year, and 16 have died by suicide so far this year. Over the past five years, the police suicide rate stood at 17.7 per 100,000 people, about 2.1 times the rate of 8.6 among public officials excluding police.
Police also stood out in cases where a link between duties and suicide was recognized. Of 35 public officials granted line-of-duty death status for suicide between 2017 and 2021, 12 were police officers, or 34.3%. Given that officers make up about 10.3% of all public officials, their share of line-of-duty suicide deaths is about 3.3 times higher than that.
In response, the National Police Agency prepared the 2026 comprehensive plan and decided to shift from its previous after-the-fact approach, which centered on individual applications and counseling, to a full-cycle support system running from prevention to diagnosis to treatment and recovery.
Under the plan, the existing "police aptitude test" will be replaced by a "comprehensive police mental health checkup" framed around health and welfare, and the interval will be cut sharply from five years to two. This year, 67,317 officers whose birth year ends in an even digit are covered. Those classified as high-risk or requiring attention based on the results will be contacted directly by counselors and, when necessary, referred to hospital care.
Over the longer term, the agency will build a system in which all officers receive counseling at least once a year, much like a routine health checkup. Currently 49 counselors work at 24 Maeum Donghaeng Centers nationwide, but only some high-workload units, such as integrated investigation, women and juvenile affairs, and traffic, receive mandatory annual counseling. Aiming for "one counselor per police office," the agency plans to expand its counseling workforce and place counselors at a total of 60 police offices by next year. This year it will pilot mandatory counseling for all staff at two police stations and three local offices.
The agency will also strengthen its system for identifying staff in need before problems escalate. Each police office will form a "police life-protection council" to proactively find and support staff showing signs of mental or physical crisis. For staff returning from long sick leave or leaves of absence, the agency will comprehensively review not only counseling and treatment but also sick leave, leaves of absence, adjustments to working hours, duties and assignments, and applications for occupational injury status. After a pilot at some offices this year, the program will expand nationwide next year.
The agency will also strengthen trauma care for officers deployed to violent crime scenes and disaster sites. Previously, emergency psychological support focused on cases in which officers directly witnessed the death of others or faced direct threats to their own lives, but the scope will now expand to include colleagues' suicides, high-profile social issues, and disasters and mass-casualty events. A standard three-stage procedure will apply, from early intervention immediately after an incident to psychological counseling and assessment and follow-up support.
The agency will also lower barriers to psychiatric care. Previously, medical costs were supported only after officers received preliminary counseling at a Maeum Donghaeng Center, but going forward, costs will be covered even if officers visit a partner hospital without preliminary counseling. From next year, the agency plans to expand support to psychiatric specialty hospitals nationwide, regardless of whether they are partner hospitals. In principle, medical costs will be fully covered within the budget.
Yoo Jae-sung, acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency, said the agency would move away from a system in which individuals had to endure and overcome difficulties on their own or ask for help, toward one in which the organization looks out for them first and connects them to needed support all the way through. "We will ensure that no one faces any disadvantage for having undergone psychological testing, counseling or treatment," he said.
