President Lee Myung-bak called Monday for a radical overhaul of the country's police as officers came under fire for mishandling an emergency call in a kidnapping-and-murder case and allegedly taking bribes from a bar owner.

Lee instructed senior secretaries to come up with a set of measures to "drastically" overhaul the law enforcement agency so it can be true to its basic duties of ending corruption and protecting the lives and property of the people, according to presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha.

The instruction came after outgoing police chief, Cho Hyun-oh, alleged in a recent media interview that lawmakers and the presidential office have attempted to meddle in police personnel appointments.

Cho offered to step down earlier this month after public outrage over the kidnapping-and-death of a 28-year-old woman at the hands of a Korean-Chinese man. Officers were found to have bungled their initial response to an emergency call from the kidnap victim and wasted the opportunity to save her. Her mutilated body was found about 13 hours after she called for help.

Lee accepted Cho's resignation and nominated his deputy to take the top police post.

Early this month, four police officers were arrested for allegedly taking bribes from a bar owner after leaking information on their crackdown plans. The case drew greater attention because dozens of officers were fired or disciplined for accepting bribes from the same bar owner two years ago. (Yonhap)