About 2,800 South Korean police officers were disciplined from 2021 through the first half of 2026, according to National Police Agency data submitted to the National Assembly. The annual total has remained around 500 cases.
Discipline by rank
The largest share involved officers in the inspector and senior-inspector ranks, the middle layer that carries substantial responsibility for field operations and supervision. Roughly six in ten disciplined officers came from those ranks.
Violations of conduct rules, including drunk driving and other behavior judged inconsistent with police standards, were among the common grounds for sanctions. The figures cover a range of disciplinary outcomes rather than a single type of misconduct.
Police leadership is considering making serious discipline carry longer-term career consequences. One proposal would permanently exclude senior officers who receive heavy sanctions from key posts.
The broader issue is institutional trust and management. Persistent disciplinary cases do not by themselves prove that misconduct is increasing, but they show that internal controls and supervisory responsibility remain an ongoing problem for the national force.