The Korean National Police Agency has issued a special alert to police offices nationwide and banned all staff dinners for 10 days, following a series of duty violations by officers including the mishandling of a missing-person case on Jeju Island.
Yoo Jae-seong, acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, issued the special alert to police offices nationwide to enforce discipline among public officials and prevent misconduct, running from the 28th through the 6th of next month, police said on the 28th.
During the alert period, the national agency and metropolitan and provincial police agencies must hold at least one response meeting chaired by their commissioners. Front-line police stations and mobile units must hold daily response meetings chaired by their heads to review measures for enforcing discipline.
Each office must conduct at least one training session for its staff on preventing duty violations and send daily text message alerts on misconduct prevention. Offices will also carry out one emergency notification drill to test their emergency contact systems while stepping up intensive internal audit activities.
Officers have been instructed to refrain from drinking during the alert period, and staff dinners have been banned outright. Non-essential events are to be curtailed or postponed, and any event that must be held requires prior approval from the head of the office.
The agency said it will hold not only the individuals involved but also their supervisors strictly accountable for any failure of command and oversight in duty violations that occur during the alert period.
The measure is seen as a response to a series of cases of improper handling of work and duty violations by officers, including the recent arrest of an officer on Jeju Island on charges of falsely closing a missing-person case.
Earlier, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency issued a general alert running from the 24th of this month through the 6th of next month to enforce discipline and prevent duty violations, after a series of instances of improper handling of work including the false closure of a missing-person case involving a person surnamed Jang.
