section_path: Presidency (2022–2025)/2022 police bureau proposal
section_name: 2022 police bureau proposal
paragraph_text: 2022 police bureau proposal
  
  In late July 2022, Yoon proposed the creation of a "police bureau" in order to ensure greater government oversight of the police force. In response, several police officers protested, claiming the measure was a dictatorial measure to compromise the political neutrality of the police.
  
  In response to the protests, Lee Sang-min, Yoon's Interior Minister, compared them to the 1979 Coup d'état of December Twelfth, though he later walked back the remarks. Yoon himself also criticized the protests, saying, "Like many, I am also deeply concerned about the collective protest of the police chiefs", and calling it a "serious breach" of police discipline.
  
  Following the protests, the presidential office threatened to punish police officers. Additional remarks by Yoon Hee-keun, President Yoon's choice as Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, further inflamed tensions by suggesting that police should focus on wages rather than the establishment of a police bureau.