Non-Police Academy Appointee... Yoon Hee-geun Steps Up to Reorganize the Force

Formation of 10-Member Confirmation Hearing Preparation Team
Direct Appointments of Kim Sunho, Baek Namik, Park Kyungseo
Interpreted as a Measure Considering Union Opposition
Attention on Balancing Regional Representation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The police have begun efforts to stabilize the organization following the confirmation of Yoon Hee-geun as the candidate for Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Agency.

According to comprehensive reporting on the 7th, senior directors at the National Police Agency visited the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency to hold meetings with workplace council representatives and field officers. This was to gather opinions on the police system improvement plan recently announced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. This move is interpreted as an attempt to quell internal opposition to the proposed establishment of a ‘Police Bureau’ within the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. They plan to tour all metropolitan and provincial police agencies nationwide, concluding with the Chungbuk Police Agency on the 13th, to hear frontline voices.

Candidate Commissioner Yoon will not participate in this tour of the metropolitan and provincial police agencies. Yoon is expected to remain at the National Police Agency in Migeun-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, focusing on preparing for the parliamentary confirmation hearing. Kim Sun-ho, Director of the Security Investigation Bureau (Police Commissioner) and head of the confirmation hearing preparation team, will also stay at the National Police Agency to communicate with Yoon and prepare for the hearing.

Earlier, on the 5th, the National Police Agency formed a 10-member confirmation hearing preparation team led by Director Kim. The composition of the team emphasizes ‘internal stabilization.’ It is notable that Yoon personally appointed Kim Sun-ho, Baek Nam-ik, Commander of the 1st Mobile Unit of the Seoul Police Agency (Senior Superintendent), and Park Kyung-seo, Chief of the 2nd Inspection and Investigation Division of the National Police Agency (Police Superintendent) to the team. Kim, Baek, and Park each entered the police force through non-police university routes?Kim and Baek through the sergeant recruitment exam and Park through the patrol officer recruitment exam. Yoon, a graduate of the Korean National Police University, appointing non-police university graduates, especially those from general backgrounds, to key positions in his confirmation hearing team has sparked various interpretations. However, the consensus is that this was a strategic move considering opposition from the workplace council. A police official commented, "It appears that Kim Sun-ho was symbolically appointed as the team leader to address the workplace council’s opposition."

Until now, frontline police officers, including those in the workplace council, have criticized the leadership for their passive response to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s moves to control the police. After former Commissioner General Kim Chang-ryong tendered his resignation last month, Yoon has led the police without presenting any significant countermeasures. Amid the leadership’s effective ‘silence,’ some workplace council leaders resorted to collective actions such as relay head-shaving protests. On this day, three individuals including Ahn Yoo-shin, President of the Workplace Council at Okcheon Police Station in Chungbuk, shaved their heads in front of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Sejong Government Complex.

Another characteristic of the confirmation hearing preparation team is regional balance. The team is composed of members from Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon (2 members), Chungcheong (2 members), Yeongnam (3 members), and Honam (3 members). This diverse regional composition is seen as a measure to reduce concentration from any particular area. Even among the leadership, the team leader Kim Sun-ho is from Gwangju, and the deputy leader Kim Sung-hee, Head of the Autonomous Division at the Gyeongbuk Police Agency (Police Commissioner), is from Cheongdo, Gyeongbuk.

The preparation team is expected to submit the confirmation hearing request to the National Assembly within two weeks. However, since the National Assembly’s second half session organization has not been finalized, the timing of the hearing remains uncertain. Regardless of these circumstances, the preparation team plans to continue its work in readiness for the hearing.