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Blood shed by police officers also matters

Posted January. 24, 2025 08:15,   

Updated January. 24, 2025 08:15

한국어

The violent intrusion at the Seoul Western District Court following the issuance of an arrest warrant for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol early Monday morning created a surreal scene. No one would oppose that those behind the riot should be held accountable for such deplorable violence by investigative authorities and the judiciary body. They will inevitably be harshly punished to prevent further chaos, given that the first emergency martial law situation in 45 years will have a long-lasting ripple effect across the country. The court has issued arrest warrants for the majority of those charged with special obstruction of public duty and other offenses, showing a strong determination to severe punishment. There seems to be a shared consensus in the political area with no disagreement from the ruling or opposition parties.

However, this social sentiment leaves police officers at the forefront with mixed feelings. After all, they have rarely seen a consensus around the political arena regarding the need to impose strict punishments on those who harm police troops during protests. Many frontline officers feel that their colleagues' injuries and bloodshedding at these demonstrations have been overlooked so far.

Little attention was paid to an incident that occurred 16 days before the riot at the Seoul Western District Court. That day, in front of the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, a protester from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) snatched a police radio and threw it at a police officer's head, causing a three-centimeter-long scar on his scalp. However, the political community showed no interest in the incident.

The KCTU showed a rather strong reaction. It even filed a lawsuit against the writer of an anonymous post on a police forum that claimed that the police officer involved was in a coma, accusing the person involved of defamation and spreading false information. Instead of apologizing to the police who saw their colleagues get painfully injured, the trade union filed charges against them.

It may be no news to police troops. As of last year, more than one hundred police officers suffered injury while on duty during protests. The first large-scale demonstration staged last November calling for President Yoon's resignation ended up having 105 injured. Among the injured were police officers who sustained serious injuries, including fractures and ligament tears. It is the first time in seven years since 2017 that the number of police officers injured during protests and demonstrations has surpassed 100 in a year. At the time, the court dismissed all arrest warrants issued by the prosecution for four individuals involved in the rally.

What's worse, there was growing political discourse about denouncing the police following the rally. The Democratic Party of Korea and other opposition parties claimed that an opposition lawmaker sustained injury due to police actions during the rally. "The violent behavior of the police only shows how much South Korea is falling back," DPK leader Lee Jae-myung said.

Amid all of this, the story of the 105 injured police officers has been forgotten. This is not to say that the broken windows of the Western District Court’s judge's office and the lawmaker's health status are insignificant. The blood shed by police officers should be treated equally at least. Otherwise, we would encounter another incident resembling the Western District Court riot.