Police say Cabinet meeting attendance keeps agency from 'becoming a frog in a well,' vow to object if probe independence threatened

Police leadership has pushed back against concerns that making the national police commissioner's attendance at presidential Cabinet meetings a regular practice could undermine the investigative independence and political neutrality of law enforcement, arguing the arrangement offers benefits such as sharing information on national affairs and coordinating across government ministries.

Hong Seok-gi, head of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters, addressed the controversy at a regular press briefing held Tuesday at the agency's offices in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. "From the police agency's perspective, there is the advantage of sharing information on national affairs without becoming a frog in a well," he said.

Hong elaborated, saying the meetings allow police to build consensus with relevant ministries that written communication alone cannot achieve in the field, and to quickly resolve differences between agencies.

"Investigative agencies tend to focus primarily on investigations and suppression," he added. "There is an aspect that makes it easier to mount a comprehensive response by communicating organically with related agencies on crime prevention and victim recovery, separate from criminal punishment."

Hong also said police would raise objections if a situation arose that threatened the political neutrality of investigations.

"The president has said there will be no direction of investigations. Cabinet meetings are also being broadcast to the public in real time," he said. "If we were to assume a situation where that were not the case, we would have to raise objections, because investigations are conducted with the public in mind."

He added that safeguards are already in place under the revised Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure police neutrality, including oversight by the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency if police conduct biased investigations.

Acting Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol, appearing before the National Assembly for a national audit Monday, responded to concerns that attending every Cabinet meeting could compromise the fairness of investigations. "There has been no mention of individual cases up to this point," he said.