South Korean police officers were handling an average of 29.4 cases per person in December 2024, according to a Monday report by a local media outlet, with police officers in Seoul managing 33.9 cases per person.
According to Asia Business Daily, both figures marked an increase from June 2024, which saw a nationwide average of 28.5 cases and 33.2 average cases per officer in Seoul. The media report cited the National Police Agency data, submitted to Rep. Mo Gyeong-jong of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
The numbers imply that the workload for highly populated areas in the nation's capital may be greater than other areas in the city. Seoul police stations handled 84,763 cases in December of 2024, with 32.4 percent allocated to the Gangnam Police Station, Songpa Police Station, Gwanak Police Station and Seocho Police Station.
Gangnam Police Station had the most cases in the city in December at 7,654. It was followed by 5,618 for Songpa Police Station, and 4,791 for Gwanak Police Station.
A total of 557,501 people were living in Gangnam-gu as of February of 2025, second to 654,166 living in Songpa-gu. The two districts combined account for 13 percent of Seoul's 9.33 million population.
Concern was raised over overworked police officers last year when three police officers across the country died within 10 days of each other in July. All officers reportedly dealt with stress and fatigue from work.
A 43-year-old police captain at Dongjak Police Station in Seoul was hospitalized by a brain hemorrhage on July 19 and died a week later, with colleagues testifying that he suffered from extreme stress and workload. A 31-year-old lieutenant of Gwanak Station died on July 18 in what is thought to be a suicide, with his father testifying that he had handled 73 cases by himself. Another officer, an unidentified superintendent aged 28 at Yesan Police Station in South Chungcheong Province, also died in a suspected suicide after reportedly complaining about excessive workload to colleagues.
NPA data shows that an average of 23 police officers a year die by suicide.
The series of deaths led the police agency to launch a task force to survey the working conditions of officers, with the NPA vowing to work on countermeasures for personnel and workload issues.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
