This Video: Gyeongbuk Police Chief Promoted to Commissioner General... New Competition for National Police Chief (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] On the 2nd, the government promoted Lee Sang-yang, Chief of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency, to the rank of Commissioner General, the second-highest rank in the police hierarchy. This promotion came ten days after the announcement on the 24th of last month of the promotion of five Commissioners, including Kim Kwang-ho, Chief of the Ulsan Police Agency.

The National Police Agency announced that it had designated Chief Lee for promotion to Commissioner General that morning. Chief Lee, a native of Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, graduated from Chung-Ang University and was appointed in 1992 as part of the 40th class of officer candidates. He is an experienced investigator who has served as the Director of Investigation Planning at the National Police Agency, Head of the Community Safety Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (now Seoul Police Agency), Director of the Traffic Bureau at the National Police Agency, Chief of the Daegu Police Agency, and Director of the Criminal Affairs Bureau at the National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters.

The rank of Commissioner General is directly below the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency (Chief Commissioner, 1 person), and there are seven positions including the Head of the National Investigation Headquarters, Deputy Commissioner of the National Police Agency, Chiefs of the Seoul, Busan, Southern Gyeonggi, and Incheon Police Agencies, and the President of the Korean National Police University. Previously, the National Police Agency announced the promotion of five individuals to Commissioner General, including Chief Kim, Song Jeong-ae, Director of Personnel Planning at the National Police Agency, Yoon Hee-geun, Director of the Security Bureau, Woo Cheol-moon, Director of Investigation Planning and Coordination at the National Investigation Headquarters, and Park Ji-young, Chief of the Jeonnam Police Agency. With the additional promotion of Chief Lee to Commissioner General on this day, all six Commissioner Generals except Nam Gu-jun, Head of the National Investigation Headquarters whose term remains until February next year, have been replaced.

This personnel change has completely reshaped the personnel landscape for the next National Police Agency Chief. By law, the Chief Commissioner of the National Police Agency, who holds the rank of Commissioner General, is appointed from among the Commissioner Generals. With six of the seven Commissioner Generals newly promoted, it is expected that all existing Commissioner Generals except Head Nam will step down. Commissioner Kim Chang-ryong’s term expires on July 23.

The appointments of the promoted Commissioner Generals are expected to proceed after consultation with the city and provincial autonomous police committees. The National Police Agency stated, "In accordance with relevant laws, we will proceed with the consultation process with the city and provincial autonomous police committees." The consultation process with these committees takes about a week, so the personnel transfers of these officials are expected to take place early next week at the earliest.

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