By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The government and police are clashing over the abolishment of the riot police servicemen system originally scheduled for 2012. While the Ministry of Defense pushes for the abolishment as planned, National Police agency Commissioner General Eo Cheong-soo is striving to keep it.
Rep. Kim Tae-won of the ruling Grand National Party said the NPA recently submitted its budget plan for 2009, saying that the number of riot policemen will decrease by 40 percent till 2011. The Cabinet has also decided to halt the abolishment, siding with police.
The riot police service is one type of mandatory military service for Korean males over 18 years of age and the defense ministry takes charge of them as military soldiers.
The system was adopted in 1970 to combat the manpower shortage during the military junta. Eo recently said it is also effective for cutting down the budget since they receive only a small amount of money.
However, the use of the system was brought into question when civic groups questioned it. Also, allegations of violent discipline in the squad proliferated.
Therefore, the former Roh Moo-hyun administration planned to replace such riot police with regular police by 2012. About 14,000 permanent working policemen were to be hired through the abolishment. The replacement was to take place gradually, starting from 2,106 next year to 1,260 in 2010 and 3,458 in 2011.
However, Eo insisted that the replacement will require more than 1 trillion won in additional budgeting and asked for a reduction to 15,000-20,000 at most.
Civic groups opposing the system criticized the decision. An Alliance to Abolish Riot Police spokesman said, ``Riot police have been a hindrance to democratic and peaceful protests for years. But still, the government regards rallies and other gatherings as illegal and violent.''
He also cited internal suppression on policemen Lee Gil-jun and Lee Gye-deok for their refusal to follow suppression orders on candlelit ralliers and said, ``The riot police have to fight against their beliefs and conscience.''
The defense ministry told Yonhap News on Wednesday that the abolishment plan is still on the go, and that there are several organizations opposing it.