SEOUL-- President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Friday to improve working conditions for the police and guarantee their neutrality as he attended the graduation ceremony of a new batch of police officers.

Yoon traveled to Chungju, 105 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to attend the graduation ceremony of 2,280 new officers at the Central Police Academy. He was joined by first lady Kim Keon-hee.

"I will do my best to improve the treatment of police so that our police officers can fulfill their tremendous responsibility and role with pride," he said, promising a series of actions including a salary increase, fair promotion opportunities and government support to strengthen security measures in the field.

Yoon noted that the powers of the police have increased significantly both in quantity and quality.

"Now we must build the institutions and systems befitting that responsibility so that you can be reborn into a police force trusted by the people," he said.

Yoon called for boldly parting with old customs and establishing a system to manage the police force in line with transparent and democratic procedures.

"The government will run the police system in accordance with the Constitution and the law and guarantee the neutrality of the police," he said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency