In accordance with the enforcement of the revised law pertaining to police, the tasks and staff of the Jeju Municipal Police have been drastically reduced.

However, with some claiming that the Municipal Police is being operated with a dualized system, the move has proved to be controversial.

The status of the Municipal Police has been greatly diminished.

Joseph Kim has more.

With the pilot operation of the expansion of the municipal police force, 268 national police officers were dispatched to the municipal police agency since 2018.

As the newly revised police law went into effect as of the 1st of this month, all officers have returned to the national police agency.

The revised police law decided to create a separate municipal police department in the current national police agency instead of dividing the police force.

However, due to opposition from local communities Jeju decided to maintain the existing municipal police.


Therefore, in Jeju, municipal police is operated in an abnormal form that is divided into two departments that belong to Jeju Province municipal police and national police respectively.

Naturally, the size of the municipal police force is drastically reduced.
And, the tasks that were transferred with the personnel are reassigned to the national police.



5 local municipal offices under the jurisdiction of the municipal police including the Yeon-dong municipal patrol division and the Hamdeok municipal police box are returning to the national local offices, and Sanji and Seogwipo municipal patrol division are dissolved.

The task of public order, which used to be the core of municipal police, is returning to the role of the national police.

The Jeju Province National Police Agency said that they will dispatch about 200 personnel to the public order and security department including life safety and traffic.



With the launch of the Special Self-Governing Province,the municipal police agency was the only one in operation in the nation, which was noted for its important role in the potential establishment of municipal police across the country.. However, there are worries that it might fall to a name-only municipal police force in a half-way operation with little chance of expansion.

Joseph Kim, KCTV.