National Police Agency (South Korea)

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National Police Agency
Hangul:	경찰청
Hanja:	警察廳
Revised Romanization:	Gyeongchalcheong
McCune-Reischauer:	Kyŏngch'alch'ŏng

The National Police Agency, or NPA, is the only police organization in South Korea and is run under the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs. As a national police force it provides all policing services throughout the country. This differs from the situation in many countries including France, where policing is split between the National Police and Gendarmerie.

The NPA is headquartered in Seoul and is divided into 14 local police agencies, including the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Local police agencies are not independent of the national police. There were 96,000 police officers as of 2004.

1 Local police agencies
2 Combat police
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Local police agencies

Seoul Police Agency with 31 police stations and 24,736 police officers
Busan Police Agency with 14 police stations and 7,736 police officers
Daegu Police Agency with 8 police stations and 4,499 police officers
Incheon Police Agency with 8 police stations and 4,437 police officers
Ulsan Police Agency with 3 police stations and 1,829 police officers
Gyeonggi Police Agency with 30 police stations and 12,483 police officers
Gangwon Police Agency with 17 police stations and 3,694 police officers
Chungbuk (North Chungcheong) Police Agency with 11 police stations and 2,901 police officers
Chungnam (South Chungcheong) Police Agency 19 police stations and 5,808 police officers
Jeonbuk (North Jeolla) Police Agency with 15 police stations and 4,498 police officers
Jeonnam (South Jeolla) Police Agency with 26 police stations and 7,408 police officers
Gyeongbuk (North Gyeongsang) Police Agency with 24 police stations and 5,765 police officers
Gyeongnam (South Gyeongsang) Police Agency with 22 police stations and 5,589 police officers
Jeju Police Agency with 2 police stations and 1,282 police officers

[edit] Combat police

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The Combat Police division of the National Police Agency is an anti-riot paramilitary unit, drafted from military conscripts. Its members deal with counterintelligence and riot policing. It was established in 1967, during the Third Republic. Each battalion is assigned to each municipal police agency in the country. In their riot gear, they can be identified by their signature metal riot shields which are numbered such as "1001" or "1011", and on their helmets with the NPA emblem. 2 weeks of training are taken by each draftee.

The Combat Police are deployed at demonstrations and rallies where violent disorder may occur. When such an event becomes violent they rush in and contain the protestors with long batons and often, their metal shields.

Due to the Korean protest culture and the fact that the protestors are armed with iron pipes and LPG-tank flamethrowers, sometimes with even sulfuric acid bottles, the Combat Police are often blamed for tactics that could be considered police brutality in some countries.

When blocking the pass of illegal protesters, the Combat Police use the "Passive Formation", where the shields are held up to make a small wall. This is the most frequent formation used. However, they are trained to retaliate from the frequent attacks by protesters by angling the shield and pushing, or jabbing the shield at the violent person in this formation.

When they are ordered to contain a protest that has become too violent, such as the student group Hanchongryun's firebombing tactics, they use the "Offensive Formation". In this case, the shields are angled sideways, with the officers charging forward to break the riot. However, this formation is only used in extreme circumstances, such as in the POSCO strike where the striking workers used homemade flamethrowers against the police, resulting in several injuries.