Police Chief Hearing Preparation Team Leader Proposes Candidate Meeting to Union (Comprehensive)

The National Police Workplace Council (Jikhyup) Min Gwan-gi, President of the Workplace Council at Cheongju Heungdeok Police Station in Chungbuk, along with the presidents of workplace councils from four other police stations, are holding a hunger strike and head-shaving protest on the 4th in front of the National Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, opposing the establishment of the Police Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Kim Sun-ho, Director of the Security Investigation Bureau at the National Police Agency and head of the confirmation hearing preparation team for Yoon Hee-geun, the nominee for Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, visited Min Gwan-gi, chairman of the Cheongju Heungdeok Police Station Workplace Council, who has been on a hunger strike, again on the 10th. This move aims to calm internal opposition within the organization against the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's plan to establish a 'Police Bureau' before the appointment of the next Commissioner General.

At 10:50 a.m. that day, Director Kim visited the hunger strike site in front of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety building at the Government Complex Sejong. Min has been on a hunger strike there since the 5th, opposing the establishment of the Police Bureau within the Ministry. This was his second visit; Kim had also visited the site on the 7th.

The police leadership has been holding meetings at various local police agencies since the 8th to address opposition from some frontline officers ahead of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's final announcement of police system improvements on the 15th and the establishment of the new bureau by the end of August. The visit by Director Kim to the hunger strike site is part of this ongoing tour, according to police sources.

In particular, the police workplace council, including Chairman Min, has recently continued relay head-shaving protests in front of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety building in Sejong City, indicating that opposition is not easily subsiding. With Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety not recognizing the council's representativeness, communication with the council has become a responsibility of the police leadership, according to consensus within and outside the police.

On the day, Director Kim reportedly told Chairman Min that if representative figures were selected at the council level, he would arrange a meeting with nominee Yoon. Min did not give a definite answer. However, there is an expectation that some form of meeting between nominee Yoon and the council will take place soon.

Meanwhile, the police leadership plans to visit the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Daegu Police Agency, Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency, Gyeonggi Bukbu Police Agency, Gangwon Police Agency, Jeonnam Police Agency, and Gyeongnam Police Agency on the 11th to hear frontline voices. On the 12th, they will visit Gwangju Police Agency, Sejong Police Agency, Jeonbuk Police Agency, Gyeongbuk Police Agency, and Jeju Police Agency, and on the 13th, as the final tour, they will visit Busan Police Agency, Ulsan Police Agency, and Chungbuk Police Agency.

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