Four Jeju police supervisors relieved of duty over alleged falsely closed missing persons cases
Four Jeju police supervisors were relieved of duty as investigators review 298 cases closed by an officer accused of falsely reporting contact with missing persons.
Jeju Seobu Police Station's website is seen on Aug. 25.SCREEN CAPTURE
Four supervisors at the Jeju Seobu Police Station were relieved of duty by the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) on Tuesday pending an internal investigation into two missing persons cases police officials say were closed by the same officer. One missing person was later found dead, while a body believed to be the other was found Monday.
The four are the station chief who was in charge when the first report came in, the current station chief, the head of the station's criminal investigation division and the leader of its missing persons team. The KNPA said it is examining where responsibility lies in the chain of command and whether supervision failures contributed.
The station's officer surnamed Bu is accused of falsely reporting contact with Jang Mi-ran, who disappeared from a lodging in Hallim-eup, Jeju, in May, and closing her case without confirming her safety.
Jang's partner reported her missing at 6:43 p.m. on May 15. Officers met the caller and searched lodgings around Hallim Port using location information from Jang's phone. At 9:16 p.m., however, the officer closed the case after saying Jang had been reached and did not want her location disclosed. The officers searching the area then withdrew.
Police later found no phone record showing that the officer had contacted Jang. A body believed to be Jang's was found Monday at a palm tree farm about 400 meters (1,300 feet) from the lodging, 104 days after she left it. Police have not yet confirmed the body's identity or exact cause of death.
A body, presumed to be of 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran who went missing in May, is found near a farm in Jeju on Aug. 24.YONHAP
Investigators found that the same officer had also falsely closed a separate case involving a man reported missing in July. His family filed another missing persons report Friday, and police found him dead Saturday.
Police are reviewing all 298 missing persons reports the officer handled and closed to determine whether any others were falsely closed or ended without confirmation of the missing person's whereabouts and safety.
The officer was released Monday after the Jeju District Court ruled that an emergency arrest made Saturday did not meet the legal requirement of urgency. A separate detention warrant hearing was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
