Police Chief Candidate to Be Nominated as Early as the 27th... Competition Among Woo Cheol-moon, Kim Kwang-ho, and Yoon Hee-geun

Woo Cheol-moon, Chief of Busan Police Agency (far left) -- Kim Kwang-ho, Chief of Seoul Police Agency -- Yoon Hee-geun, Deputy Commissioner of the National Police Agency. / Photo by National Police Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The government is reportedly set to nominate a new Commissioner General of the National Police Agency as early as the 27th.

According to a compilation of our coverage on the 25th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety requested the National Police Agency the day before to submit personnel documents, including consent forms for pre-screening the Commissioner General candidate. The National Police Agency is said to have submitted data on six Senior Superintendents, excluding the fixed-term Director of the National Investigation Headquarters. The Personnel Information Management Division of the Ministry of Justice will receive this data and proceed with the personnel screening. Once the Ministry of Justice’s screening is complete, the recommendation will go through the Presidential Office’s Personnel Planning Office and other relevant departments. Upon completion of this process, the next Commissioner General candidate is expected to be nominated as early as the 27th.

Inside and outside the police, it is anticipated that Woo Cheol-moon, Commissioner General of Busan Police Agency, Kim Kwang-ho, Commissioner General of Seoul Police Agency, and Yoon Hee-geun, Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, will fiercely compete for the next Commissioner General position. Commissioner Woo, a native of Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk, graduated from the Korean National Police University (7th class) and is regarded as a 'policy expert' within the police, as evidenced by his previous role as head of the Crime Prevention Policy Division at the National Police Agency. Commissioner Kim, considered the de facto second-in-command after the Commissioner General, is a graduate of the 35th Administrative Examination and has served as Welfare Policy Officer, Spokesperson, and Director of the Cyber Investigation Bureau at the National Police Agency. Deputy Commissioner Yoon, also from the 7th class of the Korean National Police University, is recognized as a leading 'intelligence expert' within the police, having served as Chief of the Intelligence Division and Head of the Public Safety Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Department at the Seoul Police Agency.

The selection of the next Commissioner General has drawn even greater attention amid the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s moves to control the police and the recent unprecedented controversy over personnel reversals, which led President Yoon Suk-yeol to criticize the situation as a "disruption of national order." The nominee will appear before the National Police Commission for a consent procedure, then proceed to the Minister of the Interior and Safety’s recommendation, followed by preparations for the National Assembly confirmation hearing. Since the Commissioner General is not subject to a plenary vote in the National Assembly, the President can appoint the nominee even if the National Assembly does not adopt the confirmation hearing report. The current Commissioner General Kim Chang-ryong’s term ends on the 23rd of next month.