Police Chief’s Growing Powers, Yet Third Acting Appointment: ‘Leaving the Post Vacant Harms the Public’

South Korea’s police chief position has moved into its third acting arrangement, even as the National Police Agency faces a deepening crisis of trust and a major criminal-justice overhaul.

The agency replaced 14 of the heads of 18 provincial and metropolitan police agencies in a late-night reshuffle on Sept. 1. The move was widely seen as an attempt to renew the organization, but the national police chief post remained vacant. On Sept. 2, Yoo Jae-sung, who had served as acting chief for 15 months, handed the role to Kim Jong-chul.

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Recent incidents and accidents have made the police question the very reason for its existence.

Yoo said in his farewell address that a series of recent incidents and accidents had made the police question “the very reason for its existence.” Kim said public distrust had passed a critical point. He became the third acting chief since then-Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho was removed from duty after being implicated in the Dec. 3, 2024 insurrection.

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Public distrust has passed the critical point.

Police officials say the unprecedented length of the acting arrangement has contributed to administrative paralysis. Senior appointments, including those for colonels, were delayed for months both last year and this year. More than 100 colonels reportedly had no assigned posts in May after appointments were held up for more than six months. One senior official said the delays had loosened the organization’s discipline and created a sense of apathy close to “shirking” among officers who were passed over for promotion.

The leadership vacuum coincided with a series of cases that damaged confidence in everyday policing, including the false closure of a missing-person case in Jeju, an allegedly inadequate investigation involving Jang Yoon-gi, suspicions of a cover-up at Gangnam Police Station and an inadequate response to the stalking murder in Namyangju. Kim Taek, an honorary professor at Korea University’s law school, called it a serious contradiction to demand reform while leaving the organization without a permanent chief.

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Demanding reform while failing to appoint a chief is a serious contradiction.

The timing is especially sensitive because revised criminal-procedure legislation is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 2. The prosecution service is operating under an acting arrangement, the Ministry of Justice is also led by an acting deputy minister, and the planned Serious Crimes Investigation Agency has yet to appoint its first chief. Kim said the police will be the central body responsible for stabilizing the transfer of investigative powers, warning that the public will ultimately bear the cost of leaving the police leadership vacant.

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The damage caused by the complacent decision to leave the police chief position vacant will ultimately return to the public.