A police logo at a police station in Seoul (Yonhap) South Korea’s national police agency plans to create a dedicated bureau for women’s and juvenile safety, a move aimed at strengthening victim protection and crime prevention after stalking and violence cases exposed gaps in coordination among authorities.The Korean National Police Agency’s reorganization plan, centered on the creation of a new women and juveniles bureau, recently passed a review by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, according to a local media outlet Chosun Ilbo on Monday.The bureau could be launched as early as the first half of next year, pending parliamentary budget review.The planned bureau would elevate work related to crimes targeting women and minors, including stalking, sexual violence, domestic abuse and school violence, which has so far been handled under the agency’s broader public safety and traffic bureau.The KNPA currently has six bureaus: international police cooperation, future policing policy, crime prevention and response, public safety and traffic, security, and public security intelligence.Police said the change reflects the growing need for a specialized response to crimes involving women and minors.Under the current structure, investigations into such crimes are handled by the National Office of Investigation, through its women and juvenile crime investigation division. Policy planning and administrative support, however, have been managed separately by the KNPA’s public safety and traffic bureau.The reorganization plan would separate the women’s safety and school violence policy officer, the women’s safety planning division and the juvenile protection division from the public safety and traffic bureau and place them under the new bureau.Separately, police are also moving to strengthen their response to stalking crimes through closer cooperation with the Justice Ministry.Starting Monday, police and the ministry will share real-time information on offenders wearing electronic ankle monitors for sex crimes, murder, kidnapping, robbery or stalking if they become subject to restraining orders for additional stalking or domestic violence offenses.In urgent cases requiring immediate victim protection, police officers and probation officers under the Justice Ministry will be dispatched at the same time.The measure is intended to prevent cases like the stalking murder in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, in March. In that case, Kim Hoon, who was wearing an electronic ankle monitor over a previous sex offense, was also under a court-issued restraining order in a stalking case.Authorities faced criticism after it emerged that the information had not been shared between police and the Justice Ministry, failing to prevent the victim’s death.