Police's Rigid Organizational Culture Fueled the Itaewon Disaster

A Study on the Organizational Culture of Korean Police
Police Exhibit Deep Horizontal and Vertical Structures
Focus Needed on Organizational Morale
Field Police Also Undergoing Inspection... "Lack of On-Site Personnel"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] There are criticisms that the rigid organizational culture of the police exacerbated the casualties in the Itaewon crowd crush disaster.

According to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy on the 8th, there is considerable criticism within the police that the Itaewon crowd crush disaster resulted from a total breakdown caused by poor response to 112 emergency calls, delayed reporting, and lack of communication.

Although 112 emergency calls expressing concerns about a crowd crush began four hours before the incident, the police did not even dispatch officers for 7 out of the 11 calls. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief and the Commissioner of the National Police Agency, who are in charge of overall police command, did not recognize the incident even an hour after it occurred. The advance information gathering and additional manpower requests from the intelligence division of the Yongsan Police Station, the jurisdictional station, were not communicated to the command.

Several police officers said that since all responsibility falls on the officers at the scene, there is a tendency to try to resolve the situation as much as possible before reporting. A Seoul police official stated, "When problems arise, since all responsibility is shifted to the field, there are cases where they try to manage the situation as much as possible before reporting. Sometimes they finalize the major damage that occurred at the time of the first report or wait until the situation ends before reporting." A police officer working on the front line said, "Because it is an organization with a deeply vertical structure, even when problems occur, there is an atmosphere where opinions cannot be flexibly expressed."

According to the 2017 study "Research on the Organizational Culture of Korean Police" published by the Police Policy Research Institute, the police organization is characterized by a strong hierarchical culture, and vertical and horizontal communication is not smooth, resulting in a strong group culture. It argued that the organizational management approach should shift to focus on cohesion and morale of the members in the future. There have been continuous criticisms that discrimination is severe depending on whether one is a graduate of the Korean National Police University, a candidate officer, or a patrol officer, and that an excessive senior-junior culture is entrenched, making the organization itself rigid.

It is also said that even in urgent situations, it has become habitual to report by preparing paper documents rather than verbal reports. In the case of 112 calls, when an incident occurs, the relevant district police station or police box dispatches officers to the scene, and after the situation is resolved, an incident report is prepared.

The report is then submitted up the chain: from the jurisdictional police station → Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Situation Room → National Police Agency command. A police officer working on the front line said, "Even if verbal reports are made, a one-page incident report must be created and submitted together." Another officer pointed out, "The police still report work in an analog manner because the higher-ups prefer organized documents."

Meanwhile, internal dissatisfaction within the police is surfacing. Regarding the Itaewon crowd crush disaster, the command emphasized only the 'insufficient on-site response,' and even the police officers who struggled hard have been included in the investigation targets.

On the 1st, on the internal network of the National Police Agency, employee A, who works at the Itaewon Police Box, directly refuted the command that criticized the front-line police officers, saying that the on-site personnel were severely insufficient at the time.

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