The Netflix film “Officer Black Belf” is an action movie about a martial arts officer, Lee Jeong-do (played by Kim Woo-bin), who holds a 9th dan black belt in Taekwondo, Kendo, and Judo. He becomes a “Mudosilmugwan(martial arts officer)” at the suggestion of his probation officer, Kim Seon-min (played by Kim Sung-kyun), to prevent crime by closely monitoring electronic anklet wearers 24 hours a day.
Personally, I didn’t find the movie particularly moving, but according to the media, it has topped the Netflix non-English film rankings.
Watching the movie, I became curious about the profession of “Martial Arts Officer.” I wondered if such a job existed in Korea and did some research on it.
Martial Arts Officers are not civil servants but rather contract workers who assist probation officers, who are civil servants.
Their main task is to assist probation officers in managing and supervising individuals wearing electronic anklets or bracelets.
They respond immediately if someone tampers with their anklet and runs away or wanders outside during curfew hours.
Their duties also include responding to alarms from the monitoring center if someone stays in one place for too long or moves back and forth repeatedly, or if an electronic monitoring subject doesn’t answer their phone.
They manage potential family incidents and accidents that can happen 24 hours a day.
Martial Arts Officers are classified as security guards or security personnel for industrial accident insurance purposes of Korea.
Their salary is about 2.9 million won before taxes, including all allowances, and they work in three shifts.
As they are contract workers, it seems their salary doesn’t increase annually.
If they don’t receive allowances, their salary is relatively low, leading to a high turnover rate.
The protective gear shown in the movie, such as gloves and bulletproof vests, is said to be of poor quality.
Especially in Korea, where guns are rare, bulletproof vests have the disadvantage of being easily pierced by knives.
Also, due to concerns about human rights violations, it’s difficult to wear the protective gear every time they respond to a call because it has the Ministry of Justice logo printed on it.
I learned about the Martial Arts Officer(Mudosilmugwan) through this movie.
It’s a job that involves public service but they are neither civil servants nor regular employees, but rather contract workers, so it seems like improvement is needed.
I hope this movie will lead to improved treatment for Martial Arts Probation Officers.