Task force to fight police corruption

The National Police Agency (NPA) plans to form a task force to purge corrupt officers.

On Friday, NPA chief Cho Hyun-oh announced an anti-corruption drive, while apologizing for a series of corruption scandals surrounding the police.

He said he will take direct control of the 10-member task force to be headed by the police administration bureau chief, affirming his determination to root out corruption and other wrongdoings committed by officers.

The move came amid a strong public outcry against pervasive police corruption. In one of the latest high-profile cases, 69 detectives allegedly took bribes and sex services provided by Lee Gyeong-baek, the operator of a hostess bar. They have gone unpunished despite an internal probe in 2010 that uncovered their corrupt links with Lee who is now serving a jail term.

Cho has promised to take stern action against those accepting bribes and committing other misdeeds. He has vowed not to overlook cover-up attempts, if any, to protect the corrupt detectives. He also said the NPA will closely cooperate with the prosecution in getting to the bottom of the bribery case.

The NPA plans to establish a similar task force at provincial and municipal policy agencies to step up their efforts to break corrupt ties between police and operators of hostess bars, massage parlors and other entertainment facilities.

The public welcomed Choi’s anticorruption drive. But many are still doubtful if the police have the ability to change themselves and completely eliminate corruption. They called for drastic police reform and to strengthen ethics code in order to be reborn as a new law enforcement agency to better serve the people and the nation.