"Stay, I'll Be Back"... Was There Higher-Up Intervention in the Return of the "King of Geoje"?

[Anchor]

The National Police Agency's inspection team has captured circumstances indicating that a senior police officer known as the "King of Geoje" manipulated his own personnel transfers, and that higher-ups intervened in the process. Although he was transferred away from Geoje, he returned to Geoje just a few months later, outside the regular personnel reshuffle season.

How was this possible? Reporter Bae Seong-jae investigated exclusively.

[Reporter]

This is the personnel record card of Senior Inspector A, dubbed the "King of Geoje."

Since joining the police force in 1990, over a span of 36 years, he has worked outside the Geoje Police Station for a total of only 1 year and 8 months, across just three stints.

In 2021, around the time of his promotion to Senior Inspector, he was transferred to the Tongyeong Police Station, but unusually returned to the Geoje Police Station as the head of the intelligence division just four months later.

Former Superintendent General B, the former head of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency who held the personnel authority at the time, explained in a phone call with SBS that he decided on the return because he judged Senior Inspector A had expertise in handling labor-management conflicts that had occurred at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

However, local police officers have a different assessment.

[Local Police Official: At that time, he didn't even show up to protest sites. He didn't meet with union officials himself. Because, so to speak, there was no money in it.]

As Senior Inspector A, who had left for the Tongyeong Police Station boasting that he would return, came back outside the regular personnel timing just as he had claimed, fear toward the "King of Geoje" grew even stronger.

[Local Police Official: Even when he went to the Tongyeong Police Station, he said, "Stay there. I'll be back in a few months." It wasn't just me; all the staff said that. "It's incredible."]

The National Police Agency inspection team has captured circumstances suggesting that higher-ups pressured the then-head of the intelligence division at the Geoje Police Station—whose position was swapped with Senior Inspector A—to submit a personnel grievance application citing reasons such as "caring for an elderly mother," and is expanding its investigation.

After returning to the Geoje Police Station, Senior Inspector A even received a Presidential Citation in October 2022 during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, for "systematically managing large-scale protests within his jurisdiction and contributing to community stabilization."

It was confirmed that allegations of sexual misconduct against Senior Inspector A, which transitioned from an inspection to a formal investigation, have been assigned to the Daejeon Provincial Police Agency rather than the Busan or South Gyeongsang regions.

The National Police Agency explained that this assignment was made to fundamentally block any influence Senior Inspector A might wield through his local networks.

(Video by Yang Ji-hoon | Video Editing by Ahn Yeo-jin | Design by Choi Jae-young | Screen source: Geoje Shinmun | Data provided by the office of lawmaker Yoon Kun-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.