A rare confrontation broke out in South Korea! Some people worry that ＂armed police will overthrow the government＂

[Liu Haisheng, special correspondent of Global Times in South Korea] A rare confrontation is rapidly heating up in South Korea, against the South Korean police on one side, with the opposition party standing beside them, and the South Korean Ministry of Administration and Security and the government of Yin Xiyue on the other side. According to "Korean News" reported on the 26th, the focus of the conflict between the two sides is a bill that the South Korean government deliberated and passed that day — — A new police station will be established in the Ministry of Administration and Security. The new department will directly control the command and personnel rights of the police and conduct "transparent and democratic management".

Worried about undermining the neutrality of the police

The fuse that intensified the contradiction was that more than 190 police chiefs from all over Korea (equivalent to the directors of public security bureaus in China, 470 in all of Korea) violated the order of the acting police chief to dissolve the collective action, and forcibly held the "National Police Chief Meeting" in the Police Talent Development Institute of Asan City, Chungcheongnam-do on July 23rd. Less than two hours after the end of the meeting that day, the South Korean National Police Agency suspended the police chief Liu Sanrong, who led the meeting.

After the South Korean Police Department issued the relevant personnel punishment orders and began to monitor, the middle and lower levels of police organizations also began to stir up. There are worried voices that the judicial reform completed by Moon Jae in before leaving office is aimed at decentralizing the prosecution and giving the police the right to prosecute. However, as soon as the new government takes office, it will set up a new department to "manage" the police, which may undermine the political neutrality of the police. On the internal network of the police, some people called for a "National First-line Captain Meeting" to be held in the Yashan Police Talent Development Institute on the 30th of this month, and there were also messages encouraging the captains of the first-line areas and the directors of police stations directly responsible for people’s livelihood and public security to attend the meeting together.

In response to this organized action, South Korean President Yin Xiyue said in an interview on the 25th that "I believe the Ministry of Administration and Security and the Police Department will take necessary measures". Subsequently, Li Xiangmin, Minister of Administration and Security, made a strong criticism, saying, "The meeting of police chiefs not only violates the national civil service law, but is enough to be criminally punished, and its nature is almost the same as that initiated by the forces of one mind ‘ December 12th coup ’ (In 1979, a military coup launched by Quan Doo-hwan, then commander of the security command of the Korean National Army) was quite. " This remark caused an uproar.

each sticks to his own version

South Korea’s ruling and opposition parties launched a heated debate on this issue. Members of the Common Democratic Party, South Korea’s largest opposition party, collectively demonstrated in front of the President’s office on the 26th to protest against the government’s "attempt to control the police who will have the right to prosecute in the future" (pictured above). Park Honggen, the deputy to the National Assembly of the Common Democratic Party (the second-in-command in the party), said that there is no relevant provision in the Korean Government Organization Law that the Minister of Administration and Security can be in charge of police security affairs. The current government can’t find a solution to the people’s livelihood problems, so it turns the national attention to political issues. "It is not the police who cause the disorder of the national discipline, but the government of Yin Xiyue."

South Korean President Yin Xiyue. Source: vision china

Li Zaiming, a member of the party’s parliament, published an article entitled "We should stop trying to control the retrogressive behavior of the police" on personal social media, saying that "even if we think some people affect morale, we should not suspend them". Park Yong-jin, a member of the party’s parliament, also said: "If the intention of Yin Xiyue’s government is followed, the police will be reduced to the ‘ Loyal dog ’ 。”

The ruling National Power Party believes that the police, like the army, have the public right to own guns, and disobedience and collective action cannot be tolerated. The party’s acting party leader said that police disobedience should be punished the same as military disobedience. Yin Xiyue even expressed deep concern about the internal opposition of the police to the establishment of a new police station, saying that the move was "an act of disorder in the national discipline". He emphasized that the president is the ultimate commander and supervisor of the basic affairs of national defense and public security, and there must be no incidents that shake the basic order and discipline of the country. According to the report, this is the first time that Yin Xiyue has made a clear statement on this matter, which has aroused widespread concern.

Protests have intensified.

The confrontation between the new Korean government and the police is getting worse. "Korean News" reported on the 26th that Li Xiangmin declared that the police can carry weapons. If such a meeting (the meeting of police chiefs) is left unchecked, "the police with guns may overthrow the government".

The speech made by Li Xiangmin inside the police can be described as unbearable. Police trade unions and other groups sent more than 30 sacrificial wreaths with the words "the national policeman is dead" to the police memorial park opposite the police station in Xidamen District, Seoul. There are also many protest messages on the message board inside the police. For example, "The Chief of Administration and Security actually described the meeting where the police chiefs got together to discuss the organizational direction as a coup, and he should be ashamed."

In the context of the continuous fermentation of the situation, the all-Korean police chiefs’ meeting at the police station level originally planned to be held on the 30 th of this month was changed to a meeting of 140,000 police officers nationwide to discuss countermeasures, which was held online and offline, and will be webcast. South Korea’s "Central Daily News" said that as high-level government officials repeatedly said that they would take tough measures against police who participated in activities against the establishment of police stations, many frontline police officers became increasingly dissatisfied. Some police cadres put forward: "It’s okay for the procuratorial system to have a meeting, but when the police get together for a meeting, the top management will immediately carry out organizational cleaning, which is chilling." Some Korean netizens even posted sarcastically, saying that "the police department of the Republic of Korea has died, and I hereby announce it." Others took the initiative to leave a message on the police intranet: "If a new police station is set up, the police system will undoubtedly be returned ‘ You can’t see the people in your eyes, but only look at them and act with eyes ’ The manner. "

Some people think that the contradiction between the Korean Ministry of Administration and Security and the police organization around the new police station may be further intensified. A frontline policeman warned that "if senior leaders use personnel adjustment and other means to prevent the police system from speaking to the administrative security department, it will eventually turn into an internal struggle."