The police said on Tuesday they would develop a biometric database of palm prints to better catch criminals. According to the Korean National Police Agency, forensic investigators will start to collect palm prints at crime scenes and register the physical evidence in a planned national database. The police will also develop an image-clarifying tool for easier identification of palm prints by the end of this year, officials said.

Palm prints can help police solve cases with insufficient evidence, even where fingerprints or DNA are absent. Every individual has an unique palm print making the prints useful for identifying criminals, they said.

“Fingerprints have been utilized for most cases so far. But it is now necessary to enhance investigation capability through the palm print (database) to tackle increasingly sophisticated cases,” an official said.

The police have secured 610 million won to develop the palm print tool. They also plan to collect palm prints of arrested offenders.

Most member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are using a palm print identification system for crime investigation, the police said.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)