Police Open Interpol Network to Government... Strengthening Cooperation on Transnational Crime

According to the police and other sources on the 11th, the National Police Agency is formulating and implementing a "Three-Year Plan to Establish an International Cooperation System" to respond at the government-wide level to increasingly sophisticated transnational crimes, such as drug trafficking, online fraud (scam crimes), and human trafficking. Led by the National Police Agency's International Security Cooperation Bureau, the plan centers on making the Interpol computer network (I-24/7) a joint national asset.
Recently, transnational criminal organizations have been forming complex criminal structures by moving across multiple countries. In particular, as the demand for the extradition of fugitives has more than doubled in the last two years, establishing a government-wide real-time information sharing and joint response system has emerged as a national priority; however, the Interpol computer network is currently managed exclusively by the National Police Agency's International Security Cooperation Bureau.
Accordingly, there are calls for the urgent establishment of a government-wide joint utilization system to enhance information accessibility for relevant ministries. Since 2024, the International Security Cooperation Bureau has been consulting with the Interpol General Secretariat, reviewing relevant laws, and developing measures to meet security standards and phased integration designs to expand the scope of opening the Interpol computer network.
This three-year plan institutionalizes these discussions. As a first step, the police plan to systematize international cooperation procedures within the National Police Agency and internally open the Interpol database by 2026.
Accordingly, officers in departments such as investigation, women and youth, and traffic will be granted authority to directly access the Interpol database and utilize it for investigations. In the second step, by 2027, the Interpol database and international cooperation system will be opened after conducting a demand survey targeting relevant ministries, including the Korea Coast Guard, the Korea Customs Service, and immigration authorities.
In the final phase after 2028, the plan is to complete a government-wide joint operational system by linking the computer networks of international police organizations such as Asiapol and Europol with the international cooperation system. Once this project is completed, relevant agencies in the field of investigation and law enforcement will be able to utilize the Interpol international database to conduct real-time searches for wanted persons and compare biometric information.
The police anticipate that enabling the linkage of the Interpol database from the early stages of an investigation will reduce omissions or delays in cooperation requests and significantly accelerate the speed of blocking the concealment of criminal proceeds overseas.
Park Joon-sung, Director General of the International Security Cooperation Bureau at the National Police Agency, emphasized, "The International Security Cooperation Bureau designed this open system based on close consultation with the General Secretariat of Interpol," adding, "We will do our utmost to ensure public safety by further strengthening cooperation with relevant agencies to fundamentally block any intent to commit crimes against our citizens.
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welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yu-ha Reporter