From Financial District to National Assembly: Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station, No. 1 in Major Cases, Expands Investigative Division

Division 3 Launches Today, Boosting Investigative Density
Handling Everything from Financial and Intellectual Crimes to Daerim-dong Public Safety
Two Senior Inspectors Oversaw 102 Investigators; Now, Division Staffing Adjusted to Around 30 Each

The Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station, which covers both the Yeouido financial district and the National Assembly, is expanding and reorganizing its investigative division. The organization will be subdivided from the previous two departments to a three-department system, with the aim of further enhancing investigative expertise and speed. The station is expected to strengthen its ability to respond to major cases involving financial and intellectual crimes, as well as those involving politicians.

Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jiye Lee

On May 14, the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station will launch its third investigative department in line with the latest appointments of senior inspectors. Among the 31 police stations in Seoul, Yeongdeungpo will become the fourth—after Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa—to have a third investigative department. While Gangnam focuses on nightlife, drug, and corporate-related cases; Seocho on intellectual and economic crimes as well as cases surrounding the legal district; and Songpa on everyday crimes, livelihood matters, and fraud, Yeongdeungpo is characterized by the unique overlap of finance and politics.

The jurisdiction of the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station includes the Yeouido financial district and the National Assembly. Sensitive cases related to financial and intellectual crimes and the political sphere are concentrated here. An official from the investigative division emphasized, "While we cannot disclose specific figures due to confidentiality, the number of 'major cases'—including those involving large corporations, politicians, and celebrities—is the highest among all police stations in Seoul."

At the beginning of this year, the police added 13 new investigators and began reorganizing the department with the goal of refining investigative command. Previously, two senior inspectors (police captains) were responsible for a total staff of 102—56 in Investigative Division 1 and 46 in Division 2. Each commander had to supervise approximately 50 investigators and manage large-scale cases simultaneously, resulting in a significant workload.

The investigative organization, previously operated as 17 teams, has been reorganized into three departments: Division 1 (5 teams), Division 2 (6 teams), and Division 3 (6 teams). The divisions are headed by Seo Gowoon (Division 1), Cho Suin (Division 2), and Gong Sunhoe (Division 3), respectively. The number of personnel per division will be reduced to around 30. The goal is to increase the 'density' of investigations by reducing the number of cases each department handles.

The newly established Division 3 includes the Intellectual Crime Investigation Team, a core unit previously under Division 2. This division will focus on cases requiring specialized expertise, such as election crimes, financial and securities crime, and issues related to rallies and demonstrations. Crimes directly affecting public welfare, such as fraud and embezzlement, will be flexibly assigned to each department to speed up processing.

A police official explained, "As the number of cases reported in the district is not declining—especially defamation cases involving politicians are on the rise—we have transferred the capabilities of the former Division 2 to Division 3 and split Division 1 into two units."

The Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station is also responsible for meeting the significant public safety demand in Daerim-dong, an area with a large foreign population. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the number of 112 emergency calls received by the station was 120,452 in 2021; 140,068 in 2022; 125,790 in 2023; 119,260 in 2024; and 114,540 in 2025, consistently ranking second or third in Seoul each year. The station must respond to both 'major cases' and 'public safety' issues simultaneously.

In light of these unique circumstances and the high demand for investigations, the National Police Agency upgraded Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station to the level of a Senior Superintendent General station at the beginning of this year. This means that the chief is now of a higher rank than the previous local police station chiefs (Superintendent General).

The police plan to enhance investigative thoroughness through a more robust chain of command. Chief Yeo Jinyong stated, "We will ensure that citizens can feel both the benefits of public safety and specialized investigative capabilities," adding, "By sharing the responsibilities of investigative command, we will be able to review important cases more thoroughly and strengthen the completeness of police investigations internally."

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