Officer who claimed candidacy for serious crimes agency chief placed on standby duty

Baek Hae-ryong, a police inspector who has raised allegations of outside pressure on a customs drug investigation, has been placed on standby duty.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and other sources, police placed Baek on standby duty in the police affairs planning division of the police administration department, effective Wednesday, transferring him from his post as head of the Hwagok district unit at Gangseo Police Station.

Baek announced the transfer on social media, adding that he had been undergoing a vetting process for the position of inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Interior and Safety since Friday, following a public nomination. "I am currently undergoing a personnel review by the Presidential Secretariat," he wrote.

He also wrote that he had asked Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Park Jeong-bo — who held the post at the time — whether he had known Baek was being vetted, and if so, why the transfer was happening now. "He did not answer," Baek wrote.

Last month, the Ministry of Interior and Safety conducted a public nomination process to recommend candidates for the inaugural chief of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.

The ministry said any individual, corporation or organization could recommend to the interior minister anyone they considered suitable for the post.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has been conducting an internal affairs investigation into Baek following a disciplinary request from the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. The probe stems from allegations that Baek violated public affairs rules, investigation regulations and orders while serving on secondment to the office last October as part of a joint investigation team looking into suspected customs involvement in drug smuggling.

Baek has claimed that outside pressure was applied while he was investigating, as head of the criminal affairs division at Seoul's Yeongdeungpo Police Station in 2023, allegations that Incheon Airport customs officials had conspired with Malaysian drug smugglers to bring narcotics into the country.

Meanwhile, the joint investigation team at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office announced its final findings in late February, concluding that the allegations Baek raised — including customs involvement in drug smuggling and outside interference in the investigation — had no substance.