'Ilta Scandal' Jae-woo at Police Station?..."A Dedicated Police Officer Should Be Assigned"

Persons with Developmental Disabilities Must Be Accompanied by Guardians During Investigations
Ensure the Right to Freely Express Their Intentions

"I'm sorry. You must have been very shocked. Actually, my younger brother has Asperger's, he is on the autism spectrum. It was an action without bad intentions. Please, I beg you to show leniency and not press charges."

In episode 5 of the popular tvN drama 'Ilta Scandal,' there is a scene where the protagonist Nam Haeng-seon (played by Jeon Do-yeon)'s younger brother Nam Jae-woo (played by Oh Eui-sik) is detained at a police station. Jae-woo likes the waffles sold at a local cafe, especially praising the waffles made by the part-timer Kwon Jin-kyung, and visits the cafe every day according to the time she works.

However, the part-timer's boyfriend misunderstands Jae-woo as a stalker, leading to a physical altercation, and eventually Jae-woo is taken to the police station, handcuffed, and detained in a holding cell.

In the drama, Haeng-seon, who is contacted late, rushes to the police station and pleads for leniency from the part-timer, resolving the incident. This scene shows Haeng-seon's hard life, running a side dish store and single-handedly taking care of her high school nephew Hae-i and her developmentally disabled younger brother Jae-woo.

A scene from episode 5 of the tvN drama 'Ilta Scandal'.
[Image provided by tvN]

However, if this situation were real, Jae-woo should have been granted the right to explain that this was a misunderstanding. According to the Developmental Disabilities Act, a person with developmental disabilities can request to be accompanied by a guardian or a staff member from a developmental disability support center (Article 12), and unless there are special circumstances, can be assigned a dedicated judicial police officer (Article 13).

The dedicated judicial police officer must be trained in knowledge about the characteristics of people with developmental disabilities, communication methods, and investigation methods to protect people with developmental disabilities. People with developmental disabilities have the right to receive necessary assistance to express their free will.

Handcuffing Jae-woo, who has developmental disabilities, and detaining him in a police holding cell can also be seen as a human rights violation. On the 24th, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recommended a caution, stating that failing to provide procedural accommodations during the interrogation of a suspect with developmental disabilities constitutes discrimination.

A person diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, Mr. A, was interrogated twice as a suspect at a police station in April last year. Mr. A informed the investigating officer of his disability, but the officer did not transfer the case to a judicial police officer dedicated to people with developmental disabilities. The officer explained, "Communication was smooth, so I regarded Mr. A's mention of his disability as part of an excuse."

However, the NHRCK pointed out, "Even if Mr. A appears to have smooth language skills externally, if he has been diagnosed with a developmental disability, that fact alone should be recognized as Mr. A being a person with developmental disabilities."

In 2021, in Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, there was an incident where the police handcuffed and arrested a person with developmental disabilities, Mr. B, with his hands cuffed behind his back. The police arrested Mr. B on the spot after a bystander misunderstood his muttering while he was outside to meet his family and reported it.

Disability organizations criticized the police for excessive force, handcuffing Mr. B because he was uncooperative during the investigation, and submitted a petition to the NHRCK in July of the same year. In response, the NHRCK recommended the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency to prepare a 'Field Response Manual for People with Developmental Disabilities.'