'Use of police conscripts unconstitutional'

Activists hold posters questioning the constitutionality of police conscription, during a recent anti-Park Geun-hye protest in Seoul. / Courtesy of Center for Military Human Rights Korea

Use of policemen at protests illegal

By Choi Ha-young

Where there are rallies, there are always groups of police officers wearing yellow uniforms. Some are professional, while others are conscripts ― in their 20s, doing their mandatory military service.

The auxiliary officers and the professional ones both deal with protesters. Police officially say the police conscripts are supposed to stay behind the professional ones at rallies. But they are inevitably mixed in the confusion. They mainly maintain order, but when demonstrations have turned violent, they have had clashes with protesters, involving pushing and beating.

Lim Tae-hoon, head of the Center for Military Human Rights Korea (CMHRK), has pointed out the legal problems of the duty.

"Police conscripts' duties must be limited to assistant jobs for public security," Lim said Wednesday.

The law's ambiguity makes their mobilization at rallies possible out of their duty, Lim said. The law defines their duty as"assistant jobs" to police, but no details are stipulated.

"According to the Constitution, laws and enforcement ordinances should specify duties as much as possible," he said. "Not making detailed rules is in violation of the Constitution."

Because the drafted young men lack experience and training for dealing with protests, this can cause accidents, Lim said.

In the recent anti-Park rallies, auxiliary policemen were mixed with professional ones to stop protesters approaching Cheong Wa Dae. When tensions between police and protesters escalated at the Nov. 5 rally in Seoul, a police conscript collapsed from a panic attack.

"Then, nobody from the police side managed the emergency," said CMHRK activist Kim Hyung-nam, who witnessed the scene. "A citizen moved him into Gyeongbokgung Station for shelter."

A former police conscript surnamed Oh, 22, said it was difficult to control his mind in front of aggressive protesters. "Despite the rules that auxiliary policemen stay in the back, I often had to stand in the front row," said Oh, who now volunteers for CMHRK after finishing his duty in September. "We were given no proper education about what we had to do, but were just ordered to stand there."

In the recent anti-President rallies, the CMHRK staged campaigns to raise awareness of the problem of the police conscription system, distributing stickers reading "It is unconstitutional to mobilize conscripted policemen at rallies!" On Dec. 9, they handed out 5,000 stickers in an hour.

The center has also filed petitions with the National Human Rights Commission about rights abuse of police conscripts, with nine incumbent officers joining on condition of hiding their identities.

Lim suggests auxiliary officers work in patrol divisions, as stipulated in the law for the assistant job or the police. In the case of conscripted firefighters, they work at fire stations to support the professional ones, with their duties stipulated in detail by the related law.

"Like most advanced countries, the police should concentrate on protecting key facilities and arresting wrongdoers in rallies, instead of restricting protesters," Lim said. "Then, there would be no need to mobilize conscripted young people to the rallies."

He hopes to file a constitutional appeal on the issue, but that requires "incumbent" conscripted policemen as petitioners. And it may be difficult for incumbent officers to come forward because they would face disadvantages in their remaining mandatory service.

"That's the reason for our campaign, to encourage someone to come forward," Lim said.

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