Police rank and file revolt over rotation policy in wake of Jang Yun-gi scandal

Discontent is mounting within the police force after the government announced plans to expand a mandatory job-rotation system to sever local ties in the wake of the Jang Yun-gi case. Rank-and-file officers are directing their anger not only at the government policy but also at the police leadership.

The National Police Workplace Council held a press conference Friday outside the main gate of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office to denounce what it called the police command's attempt to shift blame onto frontline officers through forced rotation transfers.

In a statement issued ahead of the press conference, the council said the police leadership was using the Jang Yun-gi case as a pretext to push through nationwide mandatory rotation assignments. "This is not genuine reform," it said, calling on the leadership to halt the plan immediately.

The council also demanded accountability from the top. "We must determine whether the National Investigation Headquarters provided appropriate investigative direction and why field supervisors failed to raise concerns," it said, urging the Korean National Police Agency to conduct a thorough review of the headquarters' command and case-handling process. "Responsibility must be borne by those who are responsible," the council added. "The leadership must not pass the blame onto lower-ranking officers — they must resign immediately."

The council further argued that the facts and criminal liability in the Jang Yun-gi case had yet to be established, and accused authorities of prejudging frontline officers as a crime-concealment faction. It called for an end to what it described as trial by public opinion and the premature disclosure of suspects' alleged crimes.

Similar calls for the leadership's resignation have appeared on Polnet, the police internal network. One officer wrote that the leadership was "offloading responsibility for the Jang Yun-gi case onto frontline staff under the guise of a rotation system" and demanded they step down. Another officer criticized the push to strengthen rotation transfers, saying it was "killing morale" and that while the Jang Yun-gi case was clearly wrong, "the entire organization is being painted as corrupt police."

Some officers are also calling on the police leadership to push back harder against the government's rotation policy. An officer at a Seoul police station said that if the acting head was truly the organization's leader, "shouldn't he be fighting tooth and nail against the rotation system?" adding, "How can rotating lower-ranking officers possibly be the solution?"

Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung issued a public apology on July 16 over the Jang Yun-gi case after evidence of a police cover-up came to light, pledging to introduce a sweeping rotation transfer system to cut ties between officers and their home regions. "Signs of deliberate collusion and preferential treatment by the investigation team at the time are emerging one by one," Yun said. "To restore public trust shattered by shoddy and concealed investigations, we will root out internal corruption and thoroughly overhaul the investigative system."