Seoul Metropolitan Police Appoints 49 Additional Investigation Review Committee Members, Expanding Total to 89

Significant Expansion of External Members Including Legal Experts
Rising Number of Review Cases...More Frequent Committee Meetings

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has significantly increased the number of investigation review committee members to strengthen external oversight of police investigations.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News

Around 3 p.m. on the 24th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency held an appointment ceremony for the Police Investigation Review Committee at its headquarters in Jongno-gu and newly appointed 49 additional members. As a result, the total number of committee members has been expanded from the previous 40 to 89.

The Police Investigation Review Committee is a body that reviews cases when parties involved in an incident, such as complainants, raise objections to the results or procedures of an investigation. It examines the completeness and fairness of investigations and, when necessary, recommends reinvestigations, supplementary investigations, or training for the investigators in charge. It is regarded as a mechanism that strengthens external control over police investigations.

In line with the expansion of the committee, the regular and extraordinary meetings, which were previously held once a month, will be increased to twice a month. The number of review committee members participating in each meeting will also be expanded from 11 to 13.

The number of cases reviewed by the Police Investigation Review Committee has been on the rise in recent years, from 186 in 2023 to 872 in 2024, and 1,210 in 2025.

Meanwhile, in this round of selection, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency introduced, for the first time, a "self-recommendation" method through an open call on its website to encourage citizen participation. A total of 146 experts from various fields, including professors, lawyers, former judges, prosecutors and investigators, certified public accountants, and patent attorneys, applied. Of the 49 people finally selected, 21 were chosen through self-recommendation.