"Opposition to the Establishment of the Police Bureau"... Police Officers Shaving Their Heads

"Arbitrary Rule of Anti-Democratic Bureaucracy"
National Police Workplace Council Opposition Statement
Participation by Joodonghoe, Yangsan Police Workplace Council President, etc.
Hunger Strike in Front of Ministry of the Interior and Safety Scheduled from Tomorrow

The National Police Workplace Council (Jikhyup) Min Gwan-gi, President of the Jikhyup at Cheongju Heungdeok Police Station in Chungbuk, along with the presidents of the Jikhyup from four other police stations, held a hunger strike and head-shaving protest on the 4th in front of the National Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, opposing the establishment of the Police Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 4th, frontline police officers nationwide who oppose the establishment of the so-called ‘Police Bureau,’ which would place the police under direct control of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, began a relay head-shaving and hunger strike.

At 10 a.m. that day, Joo Dong-hoe, chairman of the Yangsan Police Station Workplace Council in Gyeongnam, read a joint statement from police workplace councils nationwide opposing the establishment of the Police Bureau in front of the National Police Agency in Migeun-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, and then shaved his head. In addition to Chairman Joo, three others participated in the head-shaving ceremony: Min Kwan-gi, chairman of the Cheongju Heungdeok Police Station Workplace Council in Chungbuk; Yoo Hee-yeol, chairman of the Goyang Police Station Workplace Council in Gyeonggi; and Han Wang-gwi, chairman of the Gunsan Police Station Workplace Council in Jeonbuk.

Separately, Chairman Min will begin a hunger strike in front of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety starting at 10 a.m. on the 5th. He plans to continue the hunger strike until the 15th, when measures to strengthen police control, centered on the establishment of the Police Bureau within the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, are announced. In the statement, Chairman Joo said, "The establishment of the Police Bureau is an anti-democratic bureaucratic overreach that regresses to the era when the Security Headquarters under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the predecessor of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which disappeared through the democratization movement, was revived," and urged, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety must immediately stop a series of acts that undermine the political neutrality and independence of the police."

In an ‘Appeal to President Yoon Suk-yeol,’ Chairman Min stated, "Just the fact that the Minister of the Interior and Safety directly controls the police naturally makes the police wary of the administration, and there is a very high risk that the administration’s influence will affect individual investigations," adding, "The 130,000 police officers of the Republic of Korea are a public service organization that exists not for any one person but for the people. I earnestly appeal to the President to withdraw the policy to establish the Police Bureau so that the painful past is not repeated."

They argued for strengthening the status of the National Police Commission as a democratic control measure over the police force, which has grown excessively due to adjustments in investigative authority between the prosecution and police, rather than establishing the Police Bureau. They insisted that the National Police Commission should be separated from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and realized as an independent collegiate administrative body. Additionally, they proposed alternatives such as the dualization of the autonomous police system and the establishment of a Serious Crime Investigation Agency. One police officer said, "In the 77-year history of the police, it is unprecedented for police officers to shave their heads," emphasizing, "This shows the desperation and urgency of the police regarding the policy to establish the Police Bureau."

Earlier, on the 21st of last month, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Police System Improvement Advisory Committee announced recommendations to strengthen the Minister’s authority over police command, personnel, and discipline. The recommendations include establishing a Police Bureau within the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, enacting command regulations for the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, and enhancing the Minister’s authority to propose senior police personnel appointments and conduct inspections. Following the announcement, police workplace councils expressed opposition through collective statements. In this process, Kim Chang-ryong, Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, took responsibility for the situation and tendered his resignation on the 27th of last month.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min has moved to quell the police’s organized opposition. On the 1st, he visited the Hongik Police Substation in Mapo-gu, Seoul, and dismissed the workplace councils’ concerns by saying, "(The establishment of the Police Bureau) is not about the Ministry of the Interior and Safety taking control of the police," and "It is a very malicious attempt to incite you (the police)." He also indicated that he has no plans to meet with the strongly opposed workplace council chairpersons.

In response to Minister Lee’s actions, a workplace council official said, "It is a typical show," and protested, "Is it even possible to have a meeting with frontline district police stations and police box officers who cannot properly voice their opinions to the provincial police chiefs or police station chiefs?"