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Recommended Correction of Wrongful Police Questioning [2004] KRNHRC 22 (1 January 2004)

A number of complaints were received on the violation of the right to pursue happiness
because the policemen in charge of questioning blocked traffic at specific places such as
universities without giving notification of the purpose of and reasons for questioning and
without disclosing the unit to which they were stationed and their names.
The Commission found that the police had been conducting questioning according to
uniform and automatic interpretation of the requirements for questioning prescribed in the
Police Officer Duties Act or in disregard for legal procedures. It also found that it was a
general practice for all the policemen to question citizens without showing their identification.
The Commission made a recommendation to the relevant agencies that in-house human
rights training be conducted at every provincial police agency and police training institute
on the requirements and procedures of questioning stipulated in the Police Officer Duties
Act and that the riot police and auxiliary police, not to mention regular policemen, be
instructed and trained to show their identification.