The police have launched an internal inspection following allegations that a senior police official took retaliatory personnel action against a frontline investigation team leader without legitimate grounds.

According to SBS reporting, the Audit and Inspection Division of the Korean National Police Agency recently initiated a formal investigation into Senior Superintendent A.

Senior Superintendent A is suspected of taking unfair personnel action against Inspector B, a subordinate investigation team leader, after being appointed as the chief of a police station in the capital area in October of last year.

The core of the allegation is that after Senior Superintendent A introduced a new meal ticket system for employees to address chronic deficits in the police station cafeteria, Inspector B expressed a desire not to purchase the new meal tickets, prompting a retaliatory personnel action in February.

According to the reporting, Senior Superintendent A mentioned Inspector B during a meeting discussing personnel matters at the time, giving instructions to the effect of, "I cannot work with someone who rebels against me," and "Make them choose between the intoxicated person protection center and a district unit."

Some senior officers reportedly dissuaded him, saying, "They have performance records, experience, and motivation, so let's give them a chance to work even as an investigation team member," but Senior Superintendent A dismissed it, saying, "I don't want to work with them."

Indeed, Inspector B's assignment was changed to a district unit patrol team member right after the meeting.

Inspector B is known to have taken a leave of absence immediately.

Having received an internal whistleblowing report containing these details last August, the National Police Agency captured suspicious circumstances in the personnel action process regarding Inspector B and immediately launched an inspection.

The National Police Agency is accelerating efforts to uncover the truth, recently calling in Inspector B as a reference witness for questioning.

An official from the National Police Agency stated, "We view the matter as serious and are thoroughly examining the circumstances before and after."

Senior Superintendent A has been transferred to serve as the Investigation Review Coordinator at the National Investigation Headquarters, and reported to work for the first time today (September 29).

In a phone call with SBS, Senior Superintendent A explained that his remarks at the time were open to misunderstanding, but repeatedly clarified, "As an authority with personnel rights, it was simply a judgment based on Inspector B's usual work attitude and public reputation, and there was no arbitrary abuse of power, workplace bullying, or violation of regulations."

(Photo: Yonhap News)