PROTECTION SECURITY Organizations of the ROK: A Comparative Study of Presidential Security Service and National Police Agency

Abstract

Protection security organizations in the Republic of Korea were conceived in 1949 to provide protection security services to the first President, Rhee Syngman. It was in 1963 that the Presidential Security Service was created at the inauguration of the Park Chunghee administration, thereby launching hybrid security in conjunction with the National Police Agency. Ever since, the Presidential Security Service and the National Police Agency have taken numerous actions against threats of assassination from North Korea’s special forces and terrorism in the aftermath of the Korean War, and have taken counter-terrorist actions by North Korean Special Forces during the Korean War. Prominent examples include a surprise infiltration incident of 1968, the attempted assassination of President Park Chunghee in Seoul in 1974, and the attempted assassination of President Chun Doohwan in Myanmar in 1983. Presently, the hybrid security service has garnered commendations from abroad for successfully aiding large-scaled events such as Asia-Europe Meeting, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, G20 Summit, and Nuclear Security Summit to consummate. Unfortunately, however, there is not a great number of studies conducted on the hybrid security service. This study has undertaken a comparative analysis of the Presidential Security Service’s and the National Police Agency’s training and legal grounds from the theoretical perspective. Discussions were also made on the efficient directions for these two organizations. Consequently, the study discovered the organizations’ common goals, such as enhancing personal protection, maintenance of authority, maintenance of order, and citizen friendliness. Therefore, this study sought after ways to create an integrated form of the protection security organization, a break away from the two separate entities we currently have in Korea.