Korean police plan patrol robots at all 280 offices, KRW 45bn and 300 units in 2027 budget

Korea's acting National Police Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol said on Oct 21 that the police plan to place at least one patrol robot at every police office, covering 262 stations and 18 provincial agencies, ZDNet Korea reported from the opening of the 8th International Security Industry Expo in Songdo, Incheon.

According to the report, the National Police Agency's 2027 budget proposal adds KRW 45bn for crime-prevention robots, with about 300 patrol robots planned for next year, plus KRW 4.8bn for counter-terror robots and KRW 4bn for robots assisting police units, for KRW 56.05bn of AI robot spending in total; a study on robot specifications and operating rules is under way.

Kim described the robots as assistants to local patrol officers. The figures come from the outlet's report and have not been confirmed in an agency release. MEKAWIRE context: on the same day Anyang said it will put six physical-AI patrol robots into its central market from November under a KRW 625m KIRIA demonstration, and our Oct 19 explainer lists Neubility, Intellivix, Maum AI and Robotis among Korean patrol-robot suppliers.