Stop the unceasing corruption of police

A former superintendent general and head of the Jeonnam Provincial Police facing questioning by the prosecution was found dead on a mountain. The retired police executive had served key posts in the police after graduating from the National Police University. He was implicated in a bribery scandal involving a broker surnamed Seong who had close connections to active and former officers and bribed them to gain confidential files after receiving 1.7 billion won ($1.3 million) from a crypto schemer.

A former assistant police commissioner was also arrested for receiving a bribe in return for acting in favor of a suspect in the case, followed by the indictment of a former mid-level police officer who worked for the Jeonnam Provincial Police. Apart from the former head who died, several active and former senior-level police officers and superintendents may be implicated in the scandal.

The anti-corruption investigation bureau of the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office has raided the police headquarters of Gwangju City and police outlets in northern Gwangju and Gwangsan. The financial crime investigation bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Police has also launched a separate investigation. To make matters worse, the broker in Gwangju is suspected of having influenced police appointments, as the police seized the records of police performance over three years at the Jeonnam Police Agency.

Favoritism and corruption in appointments is deep-seated in the police. Police authority and investigative power had been empowered under the former Moon Jae-in administration even without fixing these problems. Since the new Police Act that took effect in January 2021 created the National Office of Investigation and institutionalized the autonomous policing system, many people have called for mechanisms to keep watch over the police’s power abuse. Concerns about the excess of police power deepened after the police became capable of initiating and closing a case after taking command over domestic intelligence from the National Intelligence Service.

The scandal with the criminal case of the broker suggests that such concerns were not exaggerated. Police investigation-related corruptions were frequent even before the power of the police grew bigger.

An investigator from the prosecution also got arrested for his apparent role in the latest broker case. Since circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the broker could have influenced senior-rank appointments in the law enforcement agency, police must come up with strong measures to prevent any possible corruption and irregularities related to appointments and investigations to effectively root out such dirty brokerage activities over criminal and investigative cases.