Commissioner Lee Refuses to Resign; Presidential Office Says He Doesn’t Have To

Some chief officers of the National Police Agency have left their posts because of the scandal over alleged revenge violence by Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon. There is mounting criticism against NPA Commissioner General Lee Taek-soon, and some are even demanding his resignation. But he has indirectly refused to quit.

He chaired a senior level meeting at National Police Headquarters on May 28 and said, “As the head of 150,000 police officers responsible for maintaining law and order, I feel responsible for the current situation. We must recover public confidence and keep the agency stable. And we also have to find out what made the investigation distorted during the investigation and take countermeasures to deal with them.”

In a five-hour meeting starting at 10 a.m., he stressed, “stabilizing the agency” instead of directly commenting on his actions.

In his daily press meeting, presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said, “The presidential office has had no discussions and reasons to talk about whether he should resign or not. As his term as commissioner is not expiring and he has not been found guilty of any illegal behavior so far, there’s no reason for him to resign.”

But that isn’t quelling unrest among police officers.

Police superintendent Lim Ho-seon is the head of the Korea National Police University alumni association. He said, “We will have a meeting where all the graduates of the Korea National Police University can talk about the current issue.” (He was the 2nd graduate of the Korea National Police University and currently is the school affairs manager of the National Central Police Academy.)

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