The National Police Workplace Council (the council) pushed back against the government's police reform plan prepared as a follow-up to the Jang Yun-gi case, saying, "A plan to expand nationwide rotation on the grounds of local ties is desk-bound administration that ignores on-the-ground realities."
Issuing a statement on the 16th, the council said, "The Jang Yun-gi case is a serious incident for which those involved must be investigated to the end and held strictly accountable under the law," but added, "Defining the entire police organization as a potential corruption group because of a single case is a performative policy."
The government said that to prevent police from forming local ties, it will push to expand rotation; introduce a recusal rule for cases involving police officers' spouses and lineal ascendants and descendants; establish an internal corruption investigation unit under the direct control of the National Office of Investigation (NOI) chief; and create, under the National Police Commission, a civilian-centered body for police investigation rights and inspection inquiries.
On this, the council noted, "Expanding rotation could weaken regional public safety expertise and seriously disrupt the lives of police officers and their families."
It also said, "A plan that allows changing an investigative team or agency if a request from the Prosecution Service for supplementary investigation is not followed would undermine the independence and accountability of police investigations and, in effect, is no different from reviving the old investigation command system under another name."
The council said, "If the government wants to regain the public's trust, it must first get to the bottom of the truth of the Jang Yun-gi case and hold those involved strictly accountable," adding, "A method that forces all police officers to make sacrifices on the occasion of a particular case can never earn the public's trust."