Interior minister Lee Sang-min has refused to comment on disciplinary action against Ryu Sam-young, a senior police superintendent who led a meeting of 50 senior police officials over the weekend to discuss protesting the planned launch of a police oversight bureau under the interior ministry.

When asked by a main opposition Democratic Party lawmaker at the National Assembly on Monday whether putting Ryu on a waitlist for reassignment was indeed a disciplinary action, the interior minister said it was hard to answer because it is beyond the scope of his duties.

Regarding his comment equating the police’s collective action to the 1979 coup d’etat, the minister explained that the comparison applied only to officers related to the meeting and not all police officers in the country.

On concerns that the establishment of an oversight bureau was intended to interfere with and control police investigations, the interior minister denied that this was the case and emphasized that concerns will be alleviated once people see what exactly the bureau does.

The remarks follow earlier statements by the minister slamming police officers taking collective action against the envisioned establishment of the ministry bureau, which some senior police officials claim would compromise their political neutrality and accountability.