Law enforcement in South Korea

South Korea has a relatively unified and integrated approach to law enforcement. For example, the National Police Agency (NPA) provides all general policing services throughout the country. Due to the unitary system, local police organizations are directly under the NPA.

Hyundai Sonata police car in Gimhae, South Korea.

This differs from the situation in many countries such as France, where policing is split between the National Police and Gendarmerie, or such as the United States, which have a layered system of national, state/regional, and/or local law enforcement organizations.

However, South Korea has several independent agencies that only enforce a specific law or laws—for example, the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Economy and Finance have their own enforcement organizations for either border control or taxation, respectively. However, they are not formally called police.

List of law enforcement organizations

The Korean National Police Agency

Korean National Police Agency is composed of 1 deputy commissioner general, 8 bureaus, 9 offices and 32 divisions.

  • Community Safety, Investigation Bureau, Traffic and Foreign Affairs Bureaus are responsible for basic policing. Public Security, Intelligence and National Security Bureaus govern public order. Spokesperson’s Office, Planning and Coordination Office, Police Administration and Human Resources Office, Audit and Inspection Office, ICT and Equipment Policy Office, Scientific Investigation Office, Police Situation Control Center provide administrative support.
  • Affiliated institutions include the Korean National Police University, Police Training Institute, Central Police Academy, Korean Police Investigation Academy and the National Police Hospital.
  • Furthermore, the Korean National Police is regionally divided over the 18 metropolitan cities and provinces, placing 255 stations, 518 precincts and 1,433 police boxes under metropolitan and provincial police agencies[2]

General safety description

The following list is a description of safety for citizens, tourists, and others who are related to being in South Korea.[3]

  • Emergency numbers: 112 for the police and 119 for the ambulance and fire department.
  • For tourist they can call 1330 for the Korea Travel Hotline. This number is operated by the Korea Tourism Organization, where they can contact employers 24/7. Furthermore, this number is also available to request the help of translators to make you understandable, for example about taxi drivers or shop assistants.
  • Pay attention to your personal belongings, like phone, wallet, money and credit cards.
  • Travel and identity documents, like ID-card and passport should be kept in a safe place. Preferably bring a photocopy of travel documents.
  • Public demonstrations in South Korea, mostly in Seoul, are happen often. Usually the demonstrations go out without any problems, but the atmosphere can change quickly and incident can happen. It has therefore best to avoid all demonstrations and large gatherings.[4]

Safety around the Demilitarized zone (DMZ)

Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, Korea has been divided between North Korea and South Korea, separated by a demilitarized zone, which the short name for is (DMZ).[5]

  • Take extra care and follow the advice of the local authorities.
  • The DMZ is only accessible in an organized context.
  • Visitors are accompanied militarily and it is strictly forbidden to leave the group.

References
  1. http://www.nts.go.kr/eng/about/about_04.asp?top_code=A001&sub_code=AS01&ssub_code=ASA4
  2. "Organization : HOME > About KNPA > About KNPA > Organization". www.police.go.kr. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  3. "NATIONAL LAW INFORMATION CENTER | ABOUT KOREAN LAW". law.go.kr. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  4. "Zuid-Korea". Federale Overheidsdienst Buitenlandse Zaken (in Dutch). 2020-05-29. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  5. "Official Site of Korea Tourism Org.: DMZ Peace Train". english.visitkorea.or.kr. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
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