[2020 National Audit] Only 9 Female Police Chiefs Nationwide... 13 Regional Police Agencies Have '0'

Yang Gi-dae, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. / Provided by the Member's Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Among the 18 provincial police agencies nationwide, it has been revealed that 13 provincial agencies do not have female police chiefs.

According to data on the "Status of Female Police Chiefs by Provincial Agency" submitted by the National Police Agency to Yang Gi-dae, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of August this year, there are only 9 female police chiefs. By provincial agency, there are 4 in Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, 2 in Chungnam Provincial Police Agency, and 1 each in Seoul, Gyeonggi Bukbu, and Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agencies.

Out of a total of 712 police officers at the rank of superintendent or higher, only 23 are female superintendents, accounting for about 3.2%, Yang said. There are 9 provincial agencies with no female police officers at the superintendent level or higher, not just police chiefs.

The proportion of female officers among those ranked inspector or higher is 5.2% (182 out of 3,531), and when expanded to include sergeants, it slightly increases to 6.2%. On the other hand, among patrol officers, 21.2% (3,183 out of 14,999) are female, with corporals at 20.2% and sergeants at 19.1%.

Yang said, "The proportion of high-ranking female police officers remains stagnant compared to lower ranks," and added, "Bold and innovative changes must be attempted to break the glass ceiling."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.