hankyoreh

Baek Nam-gi

The Police Reform Commission, chaired by Park Gyeong-seo, which was launched last month to devise a reform plan to make the police more sensitive to human rights, recommended the establishment of a fact-finding commission to reinvestigate incidents such as the death of farmer Baek Nam-ki (who died after being hit by a police water cannon at a protest in Seoul). This recommendation was accepted by Lee Chul-sung, Commissioner-General of the National Police Agency.

During a press conference held in front of the office of the National Police Agency in the Seodaemun District of Seoul at 10:30 am on July 19, the reform commission made four recommendations, including setting up a fact-finding commission to reinvestigate human rights violations by the police and improving the investigation system to better protect human rights. The reform said that the specific subjects to be investigated would be selected after further consultation with the police, while adding that possible subjects were the death of Baek Nam-ki, the Yongsan tragedy (of 2009, where residents of a building slated for redevelopment died in a clash with police), the suppression of a strike and sit-in at Ssangyong Motors, the suppression of a campaign against the naval base at Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island, and the suppression of a sit-in at electricity transmission towers in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. The fact-finding commission will consist of nine or ten people. In order to maintain the commission’s independence, at least two-thirds of its members will be appointed from the private sector.

Now that it has accepted the reform commission’s recommendation, the National Police Agency is planning to issue the internal directives needed to launch the fact-finding commission by next month. It also agreed to proactively cooperate with future requests for documentation from the fact-finding commission.

Along with this, the reform commission recommended that the police guarantee the right of attorneys to be present starting with internal investigations and to expand the scope of crimes that are subject to video recording in order to reduce the likelihood of human rights violations during the course of investigations. The commission also recommended instituting a sunset provision for long-running internal investigations and planned investigations. “We will swiftly prepare a concrete implementation plan and quickly adjust the related laws. Through forward-looking consideration of the reform commission’s additional recommendations, the police force will become more sensitive to human rights,” Lee Chul-sung said.

While civic groups praised the police for accepting the reform commission’s recommendations, they argued that the police needed to promise to investigate high-ranking members of the force who were responsible for these incidents. “The commander on the ground during the suppression of the sit-in at the electricity transmission towers in Miryang was Commissioner-General Lee Chul-sung, who was head of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency at the time. Lee needs to be a subject of this investigation. But it‘s uncertain whether the police will agree to investigate the highest-ranking officials,” said Ranghui, an activist with the Human Rights Movement Space “Hwal.”

By Heo Jae-hyun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]