South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for independent checks on police investigations Wednesday, saying stronger oversight must accompany the force’s expanded authority under a criminal justice overhaul.
Speaking at the 81st National Police Day ceremony at the National Police Agency in Seoul on Oct. 21, Lee urged a stronger oversight role for the National Police Commission. He also proposed a mechanism to examine police investigations independently. The government’s account of his remarks gave no timetable or final design for the proposal.
The call follows a restructuring that took effect Oct. 2, when South Korea abolished its former Prosecutors’ Office. The new Public Prosecution Office handles indictments and prosecutions, while the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency investigates specified major crimes. The government said the change ended a 78-year system that combined investigative and prosecutorial authority.
Lee linked the police’s greater investigative role to their responsibility to earn public trust. “Public trust cannot be restored through words alone,” he said, in a translation of his Korean remarks. He urged officers to correct flawed practices and show changes the public can see.
Lee said recent relationship violence and attacks on strangers had shaken that trust. He called on police to act on warning signs of stalking and other relationship violence before attacks occur, and to put victims’ protection at the center of their work. He singled out women, children and people with disabilities as needing particular attention.
The president also called for investigations into rental deposit and investment fraud, misuse of government subsidies, and the recovery of criminal proceeds. His proposals put both public safety and financial crime within the broader question of how police exercise their expanded authority.
