Ruling party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye pledged Friday to expand the country's police force by 20,000 members as part of efforts to prevent violent crimes and improve public safety.
In a news conference apparently timed to come ahead of Police Day on Oct. 21, the 60-year-old standard-bearer of the conservative Saenuri Party said the additional police force would put the country on a par with advanced nations in terms of the population-to-police officer ratio.
"I will increase the police force by 4,000 each year over the next five years for a total increase of 20,000, and improve public safety to the same level as advanced nations," she said during the press conference at her party headquarters. "I will (reduce) the number of citizens per police officer to under 400 as in advanced nations."
South Korea is scheduled to hold a presidential election on Dec. 19, and the next president will take office in February for a single five-year term.
Currently, each officer in South Korea is responsible for an average of 501 citizens, compared to 354 in the United States, 380 in Britain, 301 in Germany and 494 in Japan, according to the Saenuri Party.
Park also said she would create a new post of deputy police chief to handle violent antisocial crimes such as rapes and murders of women and children. Such types of crime have turned into a major political issue in the country after a number of women and young girls have been kidnapped, raped and sometimes killed by social outcasts in a series of shocking incidents.
"The lives and property of the people should be the top priority and there can be no happiness without safety," Park said.
The elder daughter of late President Park Chung-hee also promised to improve working conditions for police officers by pushing to raise their salaries and allowances for nighttime and weekend duty.
She did not, however, lay out a clear plan for how she would tackle lingering resentment among the police over a controversial ordinance they say gives the prosecution greater control over their investigation rights.
"In order to have effective and responsible investigations, we need a logical separation of roles based on the principle of checks and balances between the police and the prosecution," Park said. "I will create the stable public safety system the people wish for by adjusting the relationship between the police and the prosecution into one in which they monitor each other and keep each other in check." (Yonhap)
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