SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for a reform of the police, which he said would exercise the greatest power, amid growing public outrage over recent investigation failures, according to the presidential Blue House on Tuesday.
"The police are likely to wield the greatest power among state agencies, and public anxiety over it is exceptionally high," Lee said during a cabinet meeting.
Lee ordered the prime minister's office to design a dedicated police reform body through the collection of extensive public opinions, describing police indiscipline and irresponsible handling of public safety incidents as "quite severe issues."
Public distrust of the police deepened following a string of scandals, which involved botched investigations, evidence concealment and systematic negligence in major criminal cases.
In May, a 23-year-old man brutally murdered a high school girl in the southwestern city of Gwangju, but the police attempted to downplay his charges to simple murder despite evidence showing that the attack was a premeditated, sexually motivated crime as well as his prior record of sexual assault.
A subsequent investigation revealed that his father was an active police officer, sparking public anger over suspected internal collusion and a deliberate cover-up to protect a colleague's family.
In the same month, a 37-year-old woman went missing in the southern resort island of Jeju, but a police inspector botched the investigation and falsified official documents to forcefully close the case early.
After over 100 days, she was found dead in a palm tree plantation just 400 meters from her accommodation.
The scandals reignited a debate over the recent passage of a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act, which will strip prosecutors of all investigative authority when it takes effect on Oct. 2. ■
