Pledges to Implement Measures to Prevent Recurrence
Yoo Jaesung, Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency, stated on December 1, "The act of restricting lawmakers' access around the National Assembly on the night of December 3 last year was an unconstitutional and illegal act that undermined democracy and the constitutional order, and threatened the daily lives of the people."
At a nationwide video conference with police leadership held that day, Acting Commissioner Yoo said, "Due to the poor judgment of some members of the leadership at the time, the police, who are supposed to protect the freedom of the people and social order, were mobilized for an unconstitutional state of emergency, causing great disappointment and pain to the public. The honor and pride of frontline officers who have steadfastly stood by the people have been damaged. I sincerely apologize."
Acting Commissioner Yoo stated, "The police will look only to the people and perform police work with the protection of constitutional order as our fundamental value," adding, "As public servants for the people, we will uphold fairness and neutrality."
He also said, "No matter what happens, we will never cooperate with or condone unconstitutional or illegal acts," and added, "We will improve our system so that unlawful or unjust instructions from individual commanders are never relayed to the field without proper oversight."
Acting Commissioner Yoo emphasized, "We will not forget that police authority is delegated by the people, and we will establish thorough civilian oversight mechanisms throughout all police activities to ensure that our power is exercised for the people."
He concluded, "Once again, I apologize to the people for our past mistakes," and pledged, "To prevent such incidents from ever happening again, the leadership will take responsibility and drive change, and we will work even harder to earn the trust of the public."
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