The National Police Agency has removed an exclusive dining area for superintendent generals and higher-level officials screened off from the common cafeteria.
NPA commissioner nominee Min Gab-ryong recently ordered the removal of partitions dividing the dining hall for senior officials, which were often seen as a symbol of an authoritarian organizational culture.
Former Commissioner Lee Cheol-seong resigned late last month, but the National Assembly has yet to hold a confirmation hearing for Min.
(Yonhap)
For the first time since the NPA headquarters building opened in 1991, senior police officials are dining with rank-and-file officers and are no longer served additional menus such as fried eggs.
“(Min’s) instruction comes as he believes separating the dining space for high-level officials and others creates disharmony,” a police official said.
“It seems that he has been thinking about it for a while.”
The idea had been raised among rank-and-file officers as a move to eradicate the authoritarian culture.
After Min was nominated as the police chief last month, the former deputy chief of the NPA organized a team led by a superintendent general to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing.
By Kim So-hyun (
sophie@heraldcorp.com)