Acting South Korean police chief says public distrust has passed a critical point

Kim Jong-cheol began his tenure as acting commissioner general of South Korea’s National Police Agency with a blunt assessment: public distrust of the police has gone too far. “A police force that has lost the public’s trust has no reason to exist,” he told reporters.

Kim, 56, was appointed deputy commissioner and acting commissioner general in a late-night reshuffle of senior police officials. Before leaving his post as Gyeongnam provincial police chief, he said he would examine police work almost as if redesigning the system from the ground up.

He plans to begin with missing-person cases and relationship-based crimes, which directly affect public safety. Kim cited recent cases involving Jang Yun-gi and Jang Mi-ran as reasons for concern about public confidence in police investigations and administration. “I will check one by one whether the system is working properly, starting with missing-person cases and relationship-based crimes that are directly related to people’s lives and safety,” he said.

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A police force that has lost the public’s trust has no reason to exist.

Kim said the force must also maintain the morale of its roughly 140,000 employees. Public criticism, he said, cannot mean simply demanding that officers endure more and work harder. He described his role as a heavy responsibility rather than a cause for celebration.

Another immediate challenge is the planned abolition of prosecutors’ supplementary investigation powers on Oct. 2. Kim said police have only a month to prepare for the change and must minimize public inconvenience and anxiety if more investigative responsibility shifts to them. He also backed a personnel policy preventing officers from serving in their hometowns, saying past ties of regional and school networks had kept the police from meeting public expectations.

Kim said he would focus on basic principles rather than predict when a permanent commissioner general would be appointed. He previously served as head of the Seoul Seocho Police Station, in the Busan police leadership and at the presidential office. His inauguration ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 3.

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I will check one by one whether the system is working properly, starting with missing-person cases and relationship-based crimes that are directly related to people’s lives and safety.