The Korean National Police Agency released its "2026 Comprehensive Measures for Suicide Prevention Among Fellow Officers" on the 20th. The framework is to move screenings received once every five years up to once every two years, and to extend the regular psychological counseling that had been available only at some high-workload units to all staff. Yoo Jae-sung, acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, said the agency would move away from an approach in which individuals had to endure it or ask for help themselves. The organization will step in to check on officers and connect them to support all the way through.
From 2020 to 2024, the suicide rate among police officers was 17.7 per 100,000 people. Over the same period, the figure for public servants other than police was 8.6. That is a difference of 2.1 times.
Converted into numbers of people, that is an annual average of 23. In 2025, 25 officers died, and this year 16 have lost their lives as of August. Of the 35 public servants whose deaths were recognized as job-related suicides and processed as line-of-duty deaths between 2017 and 2021, 12 were police officers. That is roughly one in three.
The biggest change in these measures is the nature of the screening. The procedure that until now examined job performance capacity under the name "police officer job aptitude test" will be reorganized as a "comprehensive mental health examination for police officers." It means looking at the state of the mind the way physical condition is looked at from a health and welfare standpoint, and the cycle also shortens from five years to two.
What comes after the results is more important. Officers classified as high-risk or as requiring attention will receive a direct phone call from a counselor and, if necessary, be connected to hospital treatment.
Psychological counseling will be expanded in stages. This year, mandatory psychological counseling for all staff will be piloted at five stations, and in 2027 counselors will be assigned to 60 police stations. The ultimate goal is for every police officer to receive counseling at least once a year. Which stations will serve as pilots and by what standard the 60 stations will be chosen will be decided as the implementation plan proceeds.
The barrier to treatment costs is also being lowered. Until now, officers had to receive preliminary counseling at a Maeum Donghaeng Center to have psychiatric treatment costs covered. From now on, costs will be covered even if they go directly to a partner hospital without that step. The measure is meant to reduce cases where treatment is delayed by counseling appointments and waiting procedures.
Care after traumatic events has also been revised. The situations that qualify for emergency psychological support will expand from witnessing a death or facing a direct threat to life to include the suicide of a colleague, disasters and mass casualty incidents. Each police station will have a "police life protection council" that checks on the condition of staff who have experienced traumatic incidents, staff injured on duty, and staff returning from long-term sick leave or leaves of absence. The council can recommend sick leave or leaves of absence, adjust working hours, and even decide on changes to duties or posts.
Procedures following a death were also included in the measures. A hotline linking the agency headquarters, the metropolitan and provincial police agencies and police stations will be created, and "officers dedicated to bereaved families" will be designated to assist with funerals and administrative procedures.
On the same day, Mapo-gu announced a mental health support project for construction workers. Together with the Office for Government Policy Coordination's pan-government life protection promotion headquarters and the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association, it will hold free counseling from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month starting August 24 at the construction workers' rest center at 45 Mapo-daero. Counselors from the public health center will visit the rest center to measure stress and conduct depression screening tests, and high-risk individuals will be connected to the Mapo-gu Mental Health Welfare Center or professional psychological counseling. The number of people employed in construction in July was 1.865 million, down 57,000 from a year earlier.
The measures have been announced, and the point at which the screening cycle actually shifts to two years and the names of the five pilot stations will emerge through the implementation plan. Only when officers classified as high-risk do not have to worry that the classification might cost them something will a screening do the work of a screening. Whether a person who receives a counselor's call can carry on that conversation at ease will determine whether these measures succeed or fail.
