Prime Minister Creates 20-Member Police Reform Committee Under Directive 953

Prime Ministerial Directive No. 953 creates a Police Reform Committee under the Prime Minister, with up to 20 members and two co-chairs, to advise on police reform over the next year. The directive, titled Regulations on the Establishment and Operation of the Police Reform Committee, was issued on 17 September 2026 and takes effect the day it was issued. It is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea (Gwanbo) No. 21324, special volume 1, in the directives section, by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The directive answers what its enactment statement describes as the need to raise the accountability and professionalism of police investigations, strengthen public-safety capacity and improve the fairness and neutrality of police work on a government-wide basis. The committee is an advisory body, not a decision-making one: it exists to answer the Prime Minister’s requests for advice.

Its remit covers seven areas:

• the basic direction and major policies of police reform
• institutional improvements to police organization and personnel
• improvements to public-safety systems, including the autonomous police system
• measures to raise the accountability and professionalism of investigations
• securing police fairness and neutrality
• administrative and financial support for police reform
• other matters the Prime Minister considers necessary

Composition and membership

The committee has up to 20 members, including two co-chairs. One chair is the Prime Minister; the second is designated by the Prime Minister from among the commissioned members. Ex officio members are the Minister of Justice, the Minister of the Interior and Safety, the Minister of Planning and Budget, the Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Minister of Personnel Management, the Minister of Government Legislation and the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, plus heads of other central agencies the Prime Minister deems necessary.

Commissioned members are appointed by the Prime Minister from people with expertise in investigations, public safety, law, administration and organization and personnel management. Their term is one year, and a replacement serves the remainder of the predecessor’s term. The Prime Minister may dismiss a commissioned member for incapacity, misconduct, neglect of duty or loss of dignity, or at the member’s own request.

Meetings are convened at the request of at least one-third of members or when the co-chairs consider it necessary, and are chaired by the co-chairs. A quorum is a majority of members, and decisions pass by majority vote of those present.

Advisory panel and task force

A Civilian Advisory Panel may be established under the committee to advise on investigation expertise, public-safety capacity and police fairness and neutrality; commissioned members may serve on it concurrently. A Police Reform Task Force is placed in the Office for Government Policy Coordination to support the committee’s work and operations.

The task force is led by two co-heads — the First Deputy Minister for Government Policy Coordination and the Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety — with the Director of the Government Operations Office of the Office for Government Policy Coordination as secretary-general and a Senior Civil Service official as deputy head. The co-heads may request the secondment of officials from central agencies, local governments and other bodies, and may commission research or studies within budget limits.

Duration and costs

The committee and the task force last one year from the directive’s effective date, and the Prime Minister may approve an extension. Members, advisory panel members, officials and experts may receive allowances, travel expenses and other necessary costs within budget limits, except public officials who speak on matters within their own remit.

The directive gives the Prime Minister a standing advisory structure and a dedicated secretariat for police reform through September 2027, tying investigation accountability, political neutrality and community policing into a single government-wide agenda.

Source: Gwanbo (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21324 (special volume 1), 17 September 2026, directives section (official reference: Prime Ministerial Directive No. 953).