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On Halloween Day (the 31st), you may be punished for wearing a police uniform as a costume or possessing similar police equipment. In addition, companies that sell or rent police uniforms or equipment are also being punished, so special caution appears to be necessary. Costume play is a compound word of ‘Costume’, which means costume, and ‘Play’, which means ‘play’, and refers to a performance that involves wearing costumes and imitating characters from computer games, animations, comics, etc., or celebrities.
The National Police Agency announced that it will focus on cracking down on the sale and wearing of police costumes and equipment during Halloween week. According to the police on the 29th, online monitoring will be strengthened to prevent the indiscriminate distribution of similar police uniforms and equipment for two weeks before and after Halloween from the 25th to November 3rd. 54 major online retailers and second-hand trading platforms are the focus of crackdowns. In particular, the police decided to hold accountable not only the seller but also the operator of the site where the sale takes place.
Wearing police uniforms on Halloween Day, when large crowds of people gather, can cause safety issues, and when an accident occurs at a festival, the response may be delayed because police officers dispatched to the scene are mistaken for ordinary people wearing ‘cosplay uniforms.’
In fact, during the Itaewon disaster in 2022, police and firefighters who responded to the stampede accident site after receiving a report had difficulty entering the site because they were mistaken for festival participants wearing Halloween costumes. On the 21st of last month, in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, a former police officer was arrested for tying his wife’s hands and feet with handcuffs and a tie he had purchased himself during a fight between his wife and imprisoning her.
In particular, under the Police Uniform Equipment Act, it is illegal for non-police officers to wear police uniforms or clothing similar to police uniforms or to possess police equipment. Violation of this may result in imprisonment of up to 6 months or a fine of up to 3 million won.
The same applies to selling or renting it. According to the Police Uniform Equipment Act, anyone caught manufacturing, selling or renting police uniforms or equipment is subject to imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won. The level of punishment is higher than that of the person who wears it himself.
Officially licensed rental companies are not subject to punishment, but rental is not possible if an individual requests it for an unidentified purpose. In other words, police uniforms cannot be worn or rented through normal channels.
Meanwhile, the National Police Agency has continuously inspected 51 major portals and second-hand transaction sites since Halloween in 2022, took corrective action on a total of 55 cases of violations by this month, and requested investigation of 10 cases. We are also sending official letters to major online shopping malls, asking for their cooperation to prevent products with the term police uniform from being searched.
Reporter Lee Dong-jun blondie@segye.com
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