Jang Yun-gi, 23, charged with murder and attempted murder for killing a female high school student, is transferred from the Gwangju Seobu Police Station to the prosecution. News1
Over the past five years, 169 cases have been brought to trial in which police officers committed job-related crimes—colluding with parties to cases to receive money and cover up cases, or leaking investigation information. Under a police personnel system that allows officers to work in one region for extended periods, they can easily form ties with local figures, creating a structure in which such incidents can occur frequently. The government has said it will introduce a rotational assignment system to root out this so-called “hyangchal” (local police entrenchment), but critics point out that various cost and practical problems could arise, including the need for improved treatment of officers and the weakening of police local intelligence capabilities.
The number of indictments related to police misconduct, provided by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at the request of Seoul Economic Daily on the 18th, was 169 from 2021 through June this year. The main charges against these police defendants include abuse of authority, forgery of official documents, assault in the course of duty, bribery, and embezzlement-breach of trust. On average, about 2.5 police misconduct cases were brought to trial each month.
In particular, many of the police officer cases brought to trial are so-called hyangchal cases. A significant portion of hyangchal cases were uncovered through supplementary investigations by the prosecution. Unlike the police, prosecutors undergo regional rotational assignments on a one-to-two-year cycle.
Last year, the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office uncovered that police officers in the Daegu region had provided crackdown information and investigation information to operators of adult entertainment businesses, and in return received bribes disguised as if they were profits from investments. The prosecution fully reinvestigated the case through account tracing and searches and seizures, confirmed that they had formed inappropriate relationships, and brought two police officers and two adult entertainment business operators to trial.
In November last year, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, while reviewing case transfer records for a money laundering case in the cryptocurrency industry, detected circumstances in which an incumbent police station chief and a senior-level police officer had received money worth 79 million won and 10 million won, respectively, and brought them to trial. In February of the same year, the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office also indicted a former police officer who had received millions to tens of millions of won from a broker in return for resolving cases and providing investigation information.
Prosecution of crimes related to police duties.
Amid continuing corruption between police officers and local entrenched forces, the recent “Jang Yun-gi high school girl murder case” also revealed suspicions that a local police officer leaked investigation information to Jang Yun-gi’s father, an incumbent police officer, raising the need to introduce a regional rotational assignment system for police.
As such problems continued to emerge, Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung announced on the 16th that he would fully introduce a rotational assignment system for police officers. The core of the plan is that officers would be transferred to a different region after working in one region for a certain period or after being promoted. Currently, only senior superintendents at the police station chief level are moved between regions.
Following the government’s announcement, there is an unsettled mood within the police. Unlike prosecutors, who move between regions every year, one of the advantages of the police is being able to establish a base of daily life in one region for a long time.
Regional rotational assignments also raise concerns about a decline in police investigative capabilities. While staying in one region for a long time raises concerns about collusion, it also has the advantage of accumulating superior information and intelligence related to investigations.
“One of the reasons some police officers are reluctant to apply to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which launches in October, is that unlike the police, the agency uses regional rotational assignments,” a police official said. “If police officers are also going to move between regions in the future, improved treatment must be a precondition.” In addition, there is backlash within the police, with some saying, “If you get promoted, you have to move to another region, so no one will work hard. Why are lower-ranking officers taking responsibility over the Jang Yun-gi case?”