Interior Ministry has eye on police appointments

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will try to regain control of high-level personnel decisions in the national police, raising concerns of breaching the organization’s independence.

Sources in the ministry told the JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday that a so-called Police System Improvement Advisory Committee, which is directly controlled by Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, decided in its fourth meeting last Friday to establish an “official group” within the ministry that would somewhat “link” the ministry with the Korean National Policy Agency.

A member of the committee told the paper that the ministry’s Bureau of Public Safety Policy, which by Korean law isn’t classified as an official administrative group, will be upgraded to an official group to help the interior minister make high-level personnel decisions regarding the national police.

In the past, even as the interior minister had the legal authority to pick high-level officials in the Korean National Policy Agency, decisions were effectively made by the presidential office, an Interior Ministry official said.

The Interior Ministry official explained that the Bureau of Public Safety Policy had to “communicate” with the presidential senior secretary for civil affairs on police personnel matters, and report whatever the presidential office decided to the interior minister for a perfunctory signature greenlighting the choices.

Ministry officials said they hope to weaken the president’s grip over the national police by strengthening that of the interior minister.

“We’re trying to normalize what had been abnormal for so long,” the Interior Ministry official said.

While ministry officials stress that the upgraded Bureau of Public Safety Policy will mainly assist the interior minister on personnel decisions of the police, some police officers fear that the ministry may go further than that and interfere in internal affairs, including investigations and budgets. The ministry’s Police Bureau did that before it was abolished nearly three decades ago.

Specifics for the upgraded Bureau of Public Safety Policy, including its official name and role, are expected to be decided after the Police System Improvement Advisory Committee makes a formal recommendation late this month.

The Democratic Party (DP) on Monday accused the Yoon Suk-yeol administration of trying to suppress and violate the independence of the national police.

DP Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol, who served as the last interior minister in the Moon Jae-in administration, told an MBC radio show that the Yoon administration seemed to be trying to put the national police under its control.

DP Rep. Hwang Un-ha, who formerly led the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, said Yoon appeared to be trying to place both the national police and prosecution under his direct command with the help of his closest aides, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon and Interior Minister Lee.

Yoon is “flagrantly trying to dominate the police,” Hwang told a TBS radio show on Monday. If Interior Minister Lee personally interviews candidates for police chief, Hwang continued, “it’s basically forcing them to pledge allegiance.”