Minister of Public Administration and Security "Kim Jong-cheol, highly praised for his strong commitment to police reform" (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Cha Min-ji = Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung said on the 6th that Kim Jong-cheol, the candidate for National Police Agency Commissioner General, "has extensive experience in field security as well as policy management functions such as autonomous police, personnel, and information. He also has a macroscopic perspective to carry out the contemporary tasks of reorganizing the criminal justice system and police reform."

Minister Yoon explained this after announcing at a briefing that day that he would recommend the appointment of Kim Jong-cheol, the current Deputy Commissioner of the National Police Agency (Minister of Public Safety), as the 25th Commissioner General of the National Police Agency.

Minister Yoon emphasized that Candidate Kim is “receiving recognition both internally and externally for his outstanding planning ability and work driving ability.”

He added, "Based on his abundant experience and organizational management ability, he was judged to be the right person to faithfully perform the police's mission of protecting the lives, bodies, and property of the people and maintaining public peace and order."

When asked about the most important criteria for selecting candidate Kim, Minister Yoon responded, "I highly evaluated the leadership he showed while leading the National Police Agency as acting commissioner and his strong will for police reform."

Regarding the background of the prolongation of the acting police commissioner system, he explained, "In December of last year, a decision was made to dismiss former commissioner Cho Ji-ho, but at the time, most of the police commissioners were nearing retirement age and some were on trial or suspected of insurrection, so it was difficult to immediately appoint them."

He added, “As the police operate on a hierarchical system, there is no choice but to wait until a candidate for the police chief emerges from among the police officers.”

Since it is not possible to promote both ranks from Superintendent of Police to Superintendent of Police at the same time, the purpose is to wait until a new Superintendent of Police is promoted to become a candidate for Police Commissioner General.

Candidate Kim graduated from the Department of English at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and was appointed to the police in 1997.

Afterwards, he served as front-line field commanders such as the chief of Sokcho Police Station in Gangwon-do and the chief of Seocho Police Station in Seoul, as well as the head of the Autonomous Police Department of the Busan Police Agency, the head of the Public Safety Department of the Daejeon Police Agency, and the head of the Life Safety and Transportation Department of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

In September of last year, he was promoted to Superintendent of Police and took on the role of Commissioner of the Gyeongnam Police Agency, and in August of this year, he was promoted to Superintendent of Police. As a follow-up appointment, he was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the National Police Agency in September and also took on the duties of Acting Commissioner.

According to Article 14 of the Police Act, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency is appointed by the President through the Prime Minister upon the recommendation of the Minister of Public Administration and Security with the consent of the National Police Commission.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security requested that an extraordinary meeting of the National Police Commission be held prior to recommending the appointment of a candidate for the National Police Agency Commissioner-General, and the National Police Commission agreed to recommending the appointment of Candidate Kim.

Regarding the reason why the National Police Committee's deliberation took longer than expected, Minister Yoon responded, "I expected that there would usually be about one question and answer about the candidate, but the discussion was sufficiently mature after supplementary questions were asked."

The Commissioner General of the National Police can be appointed without the consent of the National Assembly after a personnel hearing.