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A police officer demonstrates firing with a less lethal firearm at the Korean National Police Agency headquarters in Seoul on Aug. 29. (Yonhap)

In response to a recent spate of indiscriminate violent crimes, the South Korean government plans to drastically increase the number of less-lethal firearms distributed to police starting next year.

After the increase, the ratio of firearms to police would be at the level of around 1-to-1.

The 2024 government budget plan announced by the administration on Tuesday included 8.6 billion won (US$6.5 million) for the distribution of less-lethal firearms as a “budget for responding to indiscriminate crimes.”

The plan involves introducing around 5,700 weapons next year, with annual increases bringing the total of new firearms to around 29,000 over a three-year period.

Currently, around 22,000 .38-caliber revolvers have been provided to South Korea’s roughly 50,000 local police, including police constabulary and substation employees, giving a distribution rate of 44%. The police’s plan is to increase the ratio of firearms provided to police from around one for every three officers to one per officer, including both the .38-caliber weapons currently supplied and the less-lethal handguns to be newly introduced.

The less-lethal handguns have muzzle energy of around 35 joules, or roughly one-tenth that of a .38-caliber round. They were developed to embed no deeper than around 6 centimeters, so that a bullet fired at a person’s thigh would not reach the bone.

They are around 25% lighter than the current revolvers, and with a recoil rate of 30%, they are easier to use and carry around.

President Yoon Suk-yeol listens to an explanation about less lethal firearms while attending the Korea Police World Expo in October of 2022. (courtesy of SNT Motiv)

Since 2016, the National Police Agency has spent a budget of 3.4 billion won on developing the less-lethal 9 mm revolvers through research and development collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Development was completed in 2020.

Last year, a safety review was conducted on potentially hazardous police equipment. The NPA carried out a sample purchase of 100 weapons for performance testing, which it carried out this year.

The weapons were originally scheduled for introduction this year, but the new plan is to begin introducing them next year after additional work to improve their performance.

Also under consideration are plans for supplementing a “smart module” — which automatically records the time and place of firing, the angle and quantity of ammunition fired, and the type of ammunition — for inclusion as early as the second half of next year.

An official with the National Police Agency stated that the less-lethal firearms would be used alongside the existing .38-caliber firearms, as they serve different purposes in the field.

The government set a budget of 1.026 trillion won for crime response, including the less-lethal firearms — 4.7 as much as the 2023 budget of 219.5 billion won. While the budget increase appears to be in response to the spate of random acts of violence in the country, Yoon had instructed the National Police Agency to look into bolstering firearm training and providing firearms to all officers last year after meeting with the chief of a local police station.

(courtesy of SNT Motiv)

In addition, the budget for responding to indiscriminate violent crimes was increased to a whopping 10.8 billion won from 140 million last year. This included 1.6 billion won for equipment for responding to knife attacks, including more than 10,000 new stab-resistant vests and 2,800 retractable batons to be supplied to 101 riot squads.

The budget for drug offenses was more than doubled from 23.8 billion won to 60.2 billion won, with funds for victim support increased by 13% to 116.9 billion won.

An additional 712.5 billion won was allocated for acquiring housing from victims of key money scams.

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter

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